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WILLIAM  H.  SEWARD'S 


TRAYELS  AEOUKD  THE  WOULD. 


EDITED   BY 

OLIVE    RISLEY    SEWARD. 


'  A  mighty  maze,  but  not  without  a  plan." 

Pope. 


WITH     TWO     E  U  N  D  B  E  D     ILLUSTRATIONS. 


NEW    TOEK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY, 

549     &     551     BROADWAY. 
1873. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1873,  by  William  H.  Sewabd,  Jr.,  Executor, 
and  Olive  Eisley  Se-ward,  Executrix,  of  the  last  Will  and  Testament  of  WrLHAii 
H.  Seward,  deceased,  in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


co:n:tei^ts. 


PART    I. 

UNITED  STATES,    CANADA,   AND  PACIFIC   OCEAN. 
Chap. 

I.  Auburn  to  San  Francisco:  Mr.  Seward's  Companions. — His  Farewell  to  his 
Neighbors. — Western  New  York. — Niagara. — Canada  and  its  Destiny. — Influ- 
ence of  Immigration. — Africo- Americans. — Detroit. — Chicago. — President  Grant. 
— Mississippi  and  Missouri  Rivers. — Cedar  Rapids. — Omaha. — New  Classification 
of  States. — Council  Bluffs. — Bridges  over  Navigable  Rivers. — Settlement  of 
Western  States. — Cheyenne. — The  Rocky  Mountains. — Influence  of  Mountain 
States. —  Sherman. —  Separation. —  Mountain  Nomenclature. — Weber  Canon. — 
Salt  Lake  City. — The  Mormons,  their  Doctrines,  Secular  Priesthood. — Brigham 
Young's  Sermon. —  His  Family. —  Polygamy. —  The  Irrepressible  Conflict  in 
Utah. — The  Shoshones. — Destiny  of  the  Indians. — Sierra  Nevada. — Reno. — 
Railroads. — Result  of  Abolition  of  Slavery. — Sacramento. — Arrival  at  San  Fran- 
cisco.— Civilization  of  California. — Chinese  Immigration,  ....  3 
II.  From  San  Francisco  to  Japan  :  The  Vessels  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Line. — Our  Fel- 
low-Passengers.— "The  Great  Company  of  the  Preachers." — The  Chinese  Pas- 
sengers.— The  Great  Event  of  the  Voyage. — The  Moods  of  the  Sea. — A  Still 
Greater  Event. — The  Loss  of  a  Day. — The  Gyascutus. — The  Beginning  of  the 
End. — The  Coast  of  Japan. — The  Ocean-Fisheries, 29 

PART    II. 

JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND    COCHIN  CHINA.       . 

I.  Yokohama  and  its  Vicinity  :  The  Bay  of  Yokohama. — Natives  and  Foreigners. 
— Native  Costumes. — Japanese  Barbers. — The  Tokaido. — Japanese  Cemeteries, 
Gardens,  and  Temples. — Monks  and  Monasteries. — Kamakura. — The  Great 
Statue  of  Buddha.— The  Daibutz, 37 

II.  Visit  to  Yeddo. — Interview  with  the  Mikado:  Interview  with  the  Japanese 
Prime-Minister. — Tremendous  Storm. — Some  Points  of  History. — The  Mikado 
and  the  Tycoon. — Japanese  Foreign  Office. — Minister  Sawa. — The  Question  of 
Saghalien. — The  Tombs  of  the  Tycoons. — A  Speck  of  War. — The  Delmonico 
of  Yeddo. — Sketches  of  Yeddo. — The  Interview  with  the  Mikado,    .         .       49 

III.  From  Yeddo  to  Shanghai  :  Hiogo. — The  Place  of  Massacre. — A  Japanese  Steamer. 
—The  Gulf  of  Osaka.— A  Harem  on  a  Picnic— The  City  of  Osaka.— The  Ty- 
coon's Castle. — Japanese  Troops. — Nagasaki. — Beautiful  Scenery. — Christians 
of  Nagasaki. — Japanese  Character. — Departure  for  China. — Concluding  Re- 
flections on  Japan, ...........         76 


iv  CONTENTS. 

CnAP. 

IV.  The  Coast  of  China  :  Woosung. — U.  S.  Ship  Colorado. — Shanghai. — European 
"Concessions." — A  Mundarin  Procession. — Chi-Tajcn  and  Suii-Tajen. — Euro- 
pean and  Chinc.«e  Civihzation. — l-'oieiirn  I'icjudiccs  agaiii-st  tlie  Chinese. — The 
yhan  Tung. — The  Yellow  Sea. — The  News  liom  France. — Chee-Foo,  the  New- 
port of  China. — A  Rough  Voyage, 94 

V.  Up  the  Pemio  River  :  Mouth  of  the  Pci-ho. — Chinese  Forts. — American  Guns. — 
The  Most  Crooked  and  Mean  of  Rivers. — Chinese  Dogs. — A  Misunderstanding. 
— Captain  Wang. — Our  Flotilla. — The  City  of  Tien-Tsin. — Aspect  of  the  Coun- 
try.— Our  Boat-Life. — Absence  of  Animals. — A  Messenger  from  Peking. — A 
Chinese  Trader.— Tung-Chow 109 

VI.  Arrival  at  Peking  :  Passing  through  Tung-Chow. — Good  Behavior  of  the  People. 
— The  Road  to  Peking. — A  Dangerous  Highway. — Daniel  "Webster  and  John 
Adams. — A  Review  of  Our  Party. — A  Grotesque  Procession. — The  Eastern  Gate 
of  Peking. — The  Separation  of  the  Party. — Anxiety  for  Mr.  Seward. — In  Woful 
Plight. — An  Explanation. — Arrival  at  the  U.  S.  Legation,  .  .  .  124 
VII.  Residence  in  Peking  :  Aspect  of  Peking. — The  Walk  on  the  Wall. — The  Foreign 
Population  of  Peking. — Two  American  Chinese. — Native  Wares. — The  Foreign 
Ministers. — The  Russian  Minister. — The  British  Legation. — Influence  of  the 
United  States. — The  Hall  of  Science. — Mr.  Seward's  Audience  with  the  Imperial 
Cabinet. — A  Ladies'  Day. — Chinese  Ladies. — A  Chinese  Mansion,  .  131 
VIII.  Residence  in  Peking  (Conthnicd):  The  Decay  of  China. — The  Temple  of  Heaven. 
— The  Temple  of  Agriculture. — The  Temple  of  Buddha. — The  Chinese  Bonzes. 
— The  Temple  of  Confucius. — The  Religion  of  China. — A  Pleasant  Reunion. — 
The  Birds  of  Peking. — xVn  Official  Dilemma. — Interview  with  Wau-Siang. — In- 
fluence of  Burlingame,  153 

IX.  Visit  to  the  Great  Wall  :  Preparations  for  the  Trip. — Our  Vehicles. — The 
Summer  Palace. — Pagodas. — First  Night  under  a  Chinese  Roof — A  Chinese 
Tavern. — Approach  to  the  Great  Wall. — The  Mongolians. — The  Cost  of  the 
Wall. — Inquisitive  Chinese. — The  Second  Wall. — The  Ming  Tombs. — A  Mis- 
guided Mule, 172 

X.  Last  Days  in  Peking  :  Cham-Ping-Chow. — A  Chinese  Inn. — The  Roman  Catho- 
lics in  China. — The  Cathedral. — The  Tien-Tsin  Massacre. — Christian  Policy. — 
Interview  with  Robert  Hart. — A  Letter  from  Sun-Tajen  and  Chi-Tajen. — Letter 
from  Prince  Kung. — Interview  with  the  Prince. — The  Prince's  Present. — De- 
parture from  Peking, 194 

XI.  The  Return  to  Shanghai  :  Once  more  on  the  Pei-ho. — The  Ladies  at  Tien-Tsin. 
— The  Shan  Tung. — Pigeon  English. — Tempestuous  Weather. — Visit  to  the 
Flag-ship  Colorado. — Departure  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Randall. — On  board  the  Plym- 
outh Rock, 205 

XII.  Up  the  Yang-tse-Kiang  :  The  Mississippi  of  China. — Ching-Kiang. — Large  Freights. 
— Nanking. — The  Porcelain  Tower. — A  Specimen  Brick. — Abundance  of  Game. 
— Scenery  on  the  River. — Ku-Kiang. — Conversation  with  Mr.  Drew. — Policy  of 
the  United  States. — Han-Kow. — Ascent  of  the  Promontory. — Magnificent  View. 
— Cheerful  Aspect  of  Han-Kow. — Excursion   to  W^oo-Chang. — A  Disagreeable 
Adventure,    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         210 

XIII.  Return    to    Shanghai  :    Departure    from    Ilan-Kow. — Chinese   Military  Art. — A 

Marvellous    Echo.  —  The    Imperial    Canal.  —  Approach    to    Chin-Kiang. — The 

United   States   Steamer  Alaska. — Running  down  a   Junk. — An  Apology  from 

the    Viceroy. — The    Comprador. — Chinese    Ladies. — Embark    on    an    English 

^  Steamer, 223 


CONTENTS.  y 

Chap. 

XIV.  From  Shanghai  to  IIosg-Koxg  :  Bad  Weather. — Cold  Weather. — Variety  of  Sea- 
men.— The  Ship's  Accommodations — Hong-Kong. — Beautiful  Scenery. — Old 
Acquaintances  renewed. — Native  and  Foreign  Population,  .  .  .  230 
XV.  From  Hong-Kong  to  Cantox  :  The  Chinese  Coasting-Trade. — Chinese  Smugglers. 
— Canton  River-Banks. —  Aspect  of  Canton. — The  British  Concession. —  The 
American  Hongs. — The  Consul  and  the  Tou-tai. — The  Diet  of  the  Cantonese. 
— Manufactures  of  Canton. — The  Temples  of  Canton,  .         .         .         233 

XVI.  Canton  ( Continued) :  A  Chinese  Villa. — The  Hall  of  Ancestors. — A  Chinese 
School-Room. — Another  Villa. — An  Opium-Den. — Extent  of  Opium-Smoking. — 
•  The  Chinese  Chronometer. — The  Street  of  Malefactors. — The  Place  of  Exe- 

cution.— A  City  of  the  Dead. — Canton  at  Night,  ....         244 

XVII.  At  Hong-Kong  again  :  Chinese  Emigration  to  the  United  States. — The  Canton 
Fisheries. — American  Houses  in  China. — A  Combination  of  Ganibleis. — A 
Dinner  at  the  United  States  Consulate. — Mr.  Seward's  Speech. — Oriental  and 
Eastern  Civilization. — Policy  of  China. — Prospects  of  China,  .  .  253 
XVIII.  A  Glance  at  Cochin  China  :  The  Steamer  Provence. — Island  of  Hainan. — Our 
Fellow-Passengers. — The  Mouth  of  the  Saigon  River. — The  City  of  Saigon. — 
French  Aptitude  for  Colonization. — French  Photographs. — The  Queen  of  Cam- 
bodia,   262 

PART    III. 

THE  EASTERN  ARCHIPELAGO,   STRAITS  OF  MALACCA,  AND 

CEYLON. 

I.  Thk  China  Sea,  Singapore,  and   the   Straits   of   Scnda  :   Our  Distance  from 

Home. — Calm  Seas  and  Temperate    Breezes. — Singapore. — A   Dispatch  from 

Boston. — The  People  of  Singapore. — Tlieir  Habitations. — Life  in  the  Tropics. 

— A  Dutch  Steamer. — Our  Crew. — A  Question  of  Races. — Rather  Hot. — Banca 

and  Sumatra. — The  Straits  of  Sunda, 271 

II.  The  Capital  of  Java:   The  City  of  Batavia. — The  Hutel  des  Indes. — A  New- 

England  Sabbath. — Malay  Servants. — The  King's  Plain. — Population  of  Java'. 

— The  Queen  of  the  East. — Departure  for  Buitenzorg. — Manner  of  Travelling. 

— The  Vice-Regal  Residence. — The  Climate  of  Java. — The  Baths  of  Buiten- 
zorg,    280 

III.  Excursion  into  the  Interior  :  A  Balking  Horse. — Cultivation  of  Rice. — Tropical 
Flowers. — Surabaya. — The  Regent  Prawiro. — Dutch  Colonization. — How  Java 
is  governed. — Bandong. — The  Regent  and  the  Interpreter. — A  Gouty  Monarch. 
— The  Regent's  Income. — How  he  spends  it, 293 

rV.  Mr.  Seward   at    Bandong  :    Excursion  to  the  Cascade. — A  Perilous  Road. — 
The  Water-Fall. — An  Evening  at  the  Palace. — The  Bayaderes. — Two  Dwarfs. 
— A  Chorus  of  Peasants. — The  Little  Princesses. — An  Excursion  to  Tankoe- 
ban. — Peruvian  Bark. — The  Top  of  the  Volcano. — An   Enchanting  Scene. — 
The  Japanese  Prince,  .........         302 

V.  At  Batavia  again. — The  Malays  :  Farewell  to  Bandong. — A  Tropical  Break- 
fast.— A  Breakfast  in  the  Botanical  Gardens. — A  Princely  Native  Artist. — 
Dutch  Colonization. — Character  of  the  Malay  Race. — Chinese  Immigration,  310 

VI.  From  Batavia  to  Madras  :  An  Uncomfortable  Steamer. — An  Accident. — At 
Singapore. — British  Hospitalitj'. — The  Port  of  Penang. — A  Loyal  Englishman. 
—Bay  of  Bengal.— Half- Way  Round  the  World.— Arrival  at  Ceylon.— Point  de 
Galle.— A  Short  Visit  to  the  Shore.— A  Hindoo  Crew.- Off  Pondichcrry,      315 


vi  CONTENTS. 

PART    IV. 

BRITISH     INDIA. 
Chap. 

I.  Madras  :  Madras  from  the  Sea. — Governor  Napier. — Tlic  Government  House. — 
A  Hindoo  Girls'  School. — Bishop  Heber. — British  Dominion  in  India. — Rear- 
Admiral  Cockburn. — Machinery  of  Government. — A  Meeting  of  the  Executive 
Council.— Lord  Cornwallis.— The  Legislative  Council. — Hindoo  Music,     .     ?.27 

IL  Madras  { Continued) :  An  Excursion  to  Arcot. — Railroads  in  Hindostan. — Ap- 
pearance of  the  Country. — The  Homage  of  Flowers. — Cauverypak. — The  Na- 
tive System  of  Cultivation.— Visit  to  a  Bramin. — Schools. — A  Car  of  Jugger-  • 
naut. — The  Dutch  Reformed  Mission. — Back  to  Madras. — The  Portuguese 
Settlement. — Gindy  Park. — A  Diamond  Merchant.— Lord  and  Lady  Napier. — 
The  Normal  School,     ..........         S38 

in.  From  Madr.vs  to  Calcutta  :  The  Surf  at  Madras. — On  the  Bay  of  Bengal. — 
The  Lion-Whelps. — The  Hoogly. — The  '\^iceroy's  Invitation. — Earl  and  Count- 
ess Mayo. — Glimpses  of  Calcutta. — The  Baboo. — The  Baboo's  House  and 
Ilarem. — The  Government  House, 350 

IV.  Calcutta  {Continued):  The  Maharajah  of  Putteeala. — Oriental  Magnificence. — 
Kali  Ghaut. —  The  Temple. —  Hindoo  Idols. —  Kali. —  Siva. —  A  Mohammedan 
Mosque. — Tlie  Reading  of  the  Budget. — Indian  Finances. — The  King  of  Oude. 

—The  Prince  of  Oude, 360 

V.  Barrackpore  and  Serampore  :  Barrackpore  Park  and  its  Beauties. — Magnifi- 
cent Trees. — The  Menagerie. — The  Lion-Whelps. — Serampore. — Its  Mission- 
aries and  Mission-Schools. — Return  from  Barrackpore. — Fort  William. — The 
Woman's  Union  Missionary  Society  and  its  Schools,     ....         368 

VI.  From  Calcutta  to  Benares  :  Courtesy  of  the  East  India  Railway  Company. — 
Unattractive  Scenery. — The  Scenery  improves. — Aspect  of  the  Country  and 
the  People. — A  Stop  at  Patna. — A  Tiger  Hunter. — The  Cultivation  of  the 
Poppy. — The  Maharajah  of  Benares. — A  Night  on  the  Ganges. — A  Brilliant 
Display. — Glory  Hallelujah. — A  Compliment  to  Mr.  Seward,         .         .         3'72 

VII.  Benares  :  The  Sacred  City  of  the  Hindoos. — The  Cradle  of  Buddhism. — Samath. 
— Remarkable  Towers. — The  Holy  River. — The  Ghauts. — Singular  Architecture. 
— The  Mosques  and  their  Minarets. — A  Picturesque  Scene  on  the  River-Bank. 
— Siva  and  Doorga. — Manufacture  of  Idols. — Magnificence  of  Benares,  .  378 
VIII.  Allahabad,  Lucknow,  and  Agra  :  Allahabad,  the  City  of  God. — Cawnpore. — 
Lucknow,  the  Capital  of  Oude. — Extent  of  the  Country. — Arrival  at  Agra. — A 
Marvellous  Monument  of  Arms,  Arts,  and  Empire. — Akbar  the  Great. — His 
Vast  Arcliitectural  Works. — The  Pearl  Mosque. — Futtehpore  Sikra. — Its  Great 
Wall— The  Tomb  of  Sheik  Selim  Chishti.— The  Ranch  Mahal.— Akbar's  Tomb. 
— His  Wealth. — His  Hoi'ses  and  his  Elephants. — AVeighing  his  Presents,     385 

IX.  Secdndra  and  the  Taj-Mahal  :  The  Tomb  of  Akbar. — Derivation  of  the  Name 
of  Secundra. — The  Taj-Mahal,  the  Tomb  of  the  Banoo  Begum. — Description 
of  ^he  Taj. — The  Tomb  of  King  Cotton. — The  Inferiority  of  Indian  Cotton. — 
Mode  of  packing  it,     .........         .         396 

X.  Delhi,  the  Mogul  Capital  :  A  Vivid  Contrast  to  Agra. — Ludlow  Castle. — Brief 
Sketch  of  Hindoo  History. — The  Persians. — The  Greeks. — The  Arabs. — Sultan 
Mahmoud.  —  The  Mongols  or  Moguls.  —  Foundation  of  Delhi.  —  Successive 
Changes  of  Site. — The  Kootub  Minar. — A  Singular  Iron  Shaft. — The  Mogul 
Tombs. — The  Tomb  of  Jchanara. — The  Jumna  Masjid. — The  Imperial  Palace. 
— Farewell  to  Delhi, 404 


CONTENTS.  vii 

Chap. 

XI.  Umballa  and  Pctteeala:  Meerut,  the  Scene  of  the  Outbreak  of  the  Great 
Mutiny. — Hindoo  Pilgrims. — First  View  of  the  Himalayas. — Invitations  to 
Putteeala. — Journey  thither. — The  City  of  Putteeala. — Coaches  or  Elephants  ? 
— Entrance  into  Putteeala.— A  Magniiicent  Procession. — Our  Palace,  .  414 
XII.  Tv-nEEALX  {ConHuued) :  Oriental  Displays  and  Diversions. — The  Menagerie. — 
The  Prisons. — The  Heir-Apparent. — An  Elephant-Fight. — Jesters  and  Jug- 
glers.— The  Royal  Palace. — Magnificence  of  the  Maharajah. — The  Durbar. — 
The  Young  Prince. — Superb  Presents. — A  Magnificent  Salon. — The  Maha- 
rajah's Conversation  with  Mr.  Seward. — An  Exhibition  of  Fireworks,     .     420 

XIII.  A  Glance  at   the   Himalayas  :   Departure  from  Putteeala. — Along  the  Banks 

of  the  Jumna. — Protection  from  the  Sun. — Reception  at  Pindarrie. — An  Il- 
lumination.— Kalka  and  Kussowlee. — The  British  Commissioner. — A  View  of 
the  Himalayas. — An  Irish  Home, 431 

XIV.  Allahabad  and  Jubbulpoor  :  An  Interesting  Debate. — Earl  Mayo,  the  Viceroy 

of  India. — His  Murder. — The  Vindhya  Mountains. — Industrial  Activity  of  Jub- 
bulpoor.— An  Elephant-Ride. — A  Night  Voyage  on  the  Nerbudda. — Romantic 
and  Beautiful  Scenery.— Hindoo  Tenderness  for  Animals,  .  .  .  437 
XV.  Bombay  :  The  Ghaut  Mouutains.— A  Cosmopolitan  City.— The  Natives  of  Bom- 
bay.—A  Mixed  Population. — Chinese,  Siamese,  Javanese,  Cingalese,  Sikh, 
Afghan,  and  Cashmerian. — The  Races  of  the  South  and  the  North,  of  the  East 
and  the  West. — Parsee  Customs. — Parsee  Religion. — Hindoo,  Mohammedan, 
and  Parsee  Disposal  of  the  Dead. — Admiral  Cockburn. — The  Great  Heat. — An 

Excursion  to  Elephanta, 442 

XVI.  An  Excursion  to  Goa  :  A  Voyage  on  the  Coast  of  Malabar. — A  Perilous  Pre- 
dicament.— Dubious    Navigation. — Situation   of    Goa. — Official    Courtesies. — 
History  of  Goa. — The  Old  City. — St.  Francis   Xavier. — Miraculous    Cures. — 
Character  of  Xavier. — Public  Institutions. — The  Governor's  Villa. — Historical 
Reminiscences. — A  Goa  Poet. — A  Cordial  Farewell,     .         .         .         .         451 

XVII.  Last  Days  in  Bombay  :  The  BycuUa  Club. — Mr.  Seward's  Speech. — His  Grate- 
ful Acknowledgments   to  his  Entertainers. — The  Indies  of  the  East  and  the 
Indies  of  the  West. — Growing  Civilization  of  the  East. — A  Progress  irresisti- 
ble.— The  New  Concord. — Policy  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Race. — Miss  Wessner. 
— Departure  from  Bombay,  ........         460 

XVni.  From  Bombay  to  Aden  :  Once  more  at  Sea. — The  Steamer  Deccan. — Mr.  Sew- 
ard's Remarks  on  India. — Natural  Religion. — The  Characteristics  of  the  Hin- 
doo Mind — England's  Hold  on  India. — The  Regeneration  of  India. — The  Island 
of  Socotra.— Arrival  at  Aden. — An  Extinct  Volcano. — Wise  Old  England  ! — 
A  New  Stage  of  the  Voyage. — Red-Haired  Negroes,     ....        465 


PART    V. 

EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

The  Red  Sea  and  Suez  Canal  :  The  Gate  of  Tears.— The  Rock  of  Perim.— 
The  Port  of  Mecca. — Imaginary  Terrors, — Pleasant  Weather. — The  Coasts  of 
the  Red  Sea. — The  Division  of  the  Races. — A  Refreshing  Atmosphere. — The 
Track  of  the  Israelites.— Suez. — The  Ancient  Canal. — The  New  Canal. — Its 
Inauguration. — Its  Prospects,      ...-...•         479 


viii  CONTENTS. 

Chap. 

II.  From  Suez  to  Cairo  :  The  Bedouin  Arabs. — A  Wadv.— Goshen. — Nubian  Troops. 
— A  Splendid  Sunset. — Tlic  Palace  of  Repose. — The  Khedive. — The  Pcpula- 
tiou  ot  Kgypt. — The  Khedive's  Improvements. — A  Visit  to  the  Ilarem. — The 
Female  Slaves. — Egypt  and  Utah, 488 

III.  Cairo  and  the  Pyramids  :  The  Road  to  the  Pyramids. — The  Style  of  the  Vice- 
roy.— Interior  of  the  Great  Pyramid. — Tlic  Sphinx. — Mariette  Bey. — Use  of 
the  Pyramids. — Rapacious  Arabs. — The  Phccnix. — The  Site  of  On. — Ruins  of 
Hcliopolis. — The  Tree  of  the  Holy  Family. — Mohammed  Tauphik. — The  Amer- 
icans in  Egypt. — The  Citadel  of  Cairo. — A  Museum  of  Antiquities. — Modern 
Cairo.— The  Copts.— The  Nilometer.— The  Tombs  of  the  Caliphs.— The  Ceme- 
teries of  Cairo. — The  Mosques. — The  Dancing  Dervishes. — Ghezireh. — Polyga- 
my.—The  Cairo  of  To-day, 498 

rV.  Up  the  Nile  :  Embarkation  at  Ghizeh. — The  Pyramids  of  Saccara. — The  Two 
Deserts. — Siout. — The  American  Vice-Consul. — Sultan  Pacha. — Character  of 
the  Nile. — Slave-Boats. — Arab  Villagers. — The  Birds  of  the  Nile. — The  Popu- 
lation on  the  Banks. — Domestic  Animals. — Personal  Arrangements. — A  Tip- 
pling Monkey, 517 

V.  From  Abydos  to  Thebes  :  The  Ruins  of  Abydos. — The  Sheik  of  Bellianeh. — A 
Misunderstanding. — A  Dinner  in  the  Ruins. — A  Night  in  the  Temple. —  Explor- 
ing the  Ruins. — By  whom  were  they  built? — Germs  of  Religious  Ideas. — The 
Temple  of  Dendera. — Mr.  Seward's  Birthday, 52G 

VI.  Thebes  and  its  Ruins  :  What  Thebes  is  now. — A  Grand  Reception. — A  Fed- 

eral Salute. — The  Scenery  of  the  Nile. — The  Temple  of  Luxor. — The  Houses 
of  the  Consuls. — History  of  Luxor. — Karnak. — The  Hall  of  the  Gods. — King 
Shishak. — Sphinx  Avenues. — We  dine  with  the  Viee-Consul. — The  Colossi. — 
The  Ancient  Tombs. — The  Tombs  of  the  Kings. — Animal  Worship. — The  Ra- 
meseum. — Grandeur  of  Thebes,  ........         534 

VII.  EsNEH,  Edfou,  Assouan,  and  Phils  :  The  Coptic  Convents. — Youssef  and  his 

Donkey. — Our  Steamer  aground. — The  Ruins  of  Esneh. — The  Temple  of  Edfou. 
— Assouan. — Its  Surprising  Activity. — Its  African  Population. — The  Ancient 
Quarries. — Philae  and  the  Cataracts  of  the  Nile. — A  Monument  of  the  First 
French  Republic, 552 

Vni.  Last  Days  in  Egypt:  The  Vice-Consul's  Harem. — Kenneh  and  its  Pottery. — 
The  Sugar  of  Egypt. — Memphis. — Its  Ruins. — The  Downfall  of  Idolaters. — 
Again  at  Cairo. — Conversation  with  a  Pacha. — Alexandria. — Aspect  of  the 
City. — Interview  with  the  Khedive. — Sir  Henry  Bulwer. — Pompey's  Pillar. — 
The  Khedive's  Yacht. — Concluding  Reflections  on  Egypt,    .        .         .        563 

IX.  Jerusalem:  A  Levantine  Coasting-Steamer. — The  Green  Fields  of  Sharon. — Jaffa. 
— Ramleh. — Lydda. — Rural  Population. — First  View  of  Jerusalem. — Mr.  Sew- 
ard's Reception. — The  Sultan's  Firman. — Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. — 
Religious  Intolerance —Mount  Calvary. — The  Via  Dolorosa. — The  Mosque  of 
Omar.— The  Mosque  El-Aksa, 578 

X.  Jerusalem  and  its  Neighborhood:  Bethlehem. — The  Grave  of  Rachel. — The 
City  of  Jerusalem. — The  Mount  of  Olives. — The  Tomb  of  Zachariah. — The 
Tomb  of  Absalom. — An  American  Jew.— Bethany. — Pilate's  Palace. —  The 
Greek  Church  in  Palestine.— The  Jews  of  Jerusalem.— Tlieir  Wailing-Place. — 
The  Jewish  Sabbath. — Attendance  at  the  Synagogue. — Bishop  Gobat. — De- 
parture from  Jerusalem. — Jaffa  and  Beirut, 594 


CONTENTS.  ix 

Chap. 

XI.  From  Palestine  to  Greece  :  Impressions  of  Palestine. — The  Egyptian  Race. — 
Egyptian  Civilization.— Phoenicia  and  Palestine. — The  Four  Religions. — What 
we  owe  to  the  Jews. — Present  State  of  Palestine. — The  Island  of  Cyprus. — 
The  Cesnola  Collection. — Smyrna. — An  Excursion  to  Ephesus. — The  Seven 
Sleepers. — Mr.  Wood's  Researches.— The  Temple  of  Diana. — The  Isles  of 
Greece. — Tinos. — The  City  of  Syra. — An  Illumination,         ...        607 


PART    VI. 

EUROPE. 

I.  Athens  and  Constantinople  :  Athens. — The  Pirsus. — The  Hymcttus. — The  Hys- 
gus. — Mr.  Tuckerman. — Queen  Olga. — Grecian  Ruins  compared  with  those  of 
Egypt  and  Hindostan. — Modern  Greece,  the  Mexico  of  Europe. — The  Sea  of 
Marmora. — Taking  Constantinople  by  Surprise. — A  Contretemps. — All's  Well 
that   Ends   Well. — The  Sultan  Abdul-Aziz. — A   Busy   Day.  —  Excursions.— 
Charms  of  Constantinople.— The  Old  Seraglio —Fourth  of  Juiy.— Robert  Col- 
lege.— The  Bosporus. — Turkish  W^omen. — The  New  Palace.— Untimely  Visit. 
— Kiamil  Pacha. — Audience  with   the  Sultan.  —  Departure  from  Constanti- 
nople, .........•••         627 

II.  HcNGART  AND  AUSTRIA:  On  the  Danube. — Varna. — Rustchuk. — Wallachia. — 
German  Travellers. — What  shall  we  say  of  Turkey  ?— Reflections  on  the  Future 
of  the  Turks. — Orsova.— The  Iron  Gate.— Hungarian  Loyalty. — Buda-Pesth. 
— Contrast  of  European  and  Asiatic  Civilization. — The  People  of  Pesth. — The 
Bridge  of  Buda. — The  Buildings  of  Buda.— The  History  of  Hungary. — The 
Danube. — Vienna. — John  Jay. — Count  Von  Beust. — Politics  of  Austria,      654 

III.  Italy  :  Venice. — American  Knights  Templars. — Florence. — Attractiveness  of  the 

City. — Rome. — The  Coliseum. — Cardinal  Antonelli  and  the  Pope. — Interview 
with  the  Pope.— The  Italian  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. — The  Schools  of  Art. 
— Naples. — Vesuvius. — Early  Civilization  on  the  Mediterranean  Coast. — Na- 
ples, the  Newport  of  the  Roman  Empire. — Genoa. — Susa. — Prospects  of 
Italy, 669 

IV.  Switzerland  and  France  :  Geneva. — The  Alps. — The  Tunnel  of  Mont  Cenis. — 

Passports. — American   Fondness  for   Switzerland. — Berne. — Swiss   Statesmen 
and  Politics. — Distress  of  France. — The  Franco-German  War. — Lord  Lyons. — 
Mr.  Washburne. — Versailles. — The  French  Assembly.— President  Thiers. — A 
Dinner  with  President  Thiers. — Condition  of  France. — M.  Drouyn  de  Lhuys. — 
M.  Laboulaye. — Dr.  Evans  and  the  Empress  Eugenie. — Aspect  of  Paris. — Pros- 
pects of  France,  .......•••         685 

V.  Germany,  England,  and  Home:  Belgium. — Berlin. — Mr.  Bancroft. — Humboldt. 
— The  Geraian  Empire. — Its  Rise  and  Grandeur. — Its  Policy. — Hamburg. — A 
Free  City. — A  Handsome  City. — On  the  Thames, — Activity  of  its  Commerce. — 
Greatness  of  London. — Government  Machinery  in  Great  Britain. — Its  Slow 
Working. — Rural  Beauty  of  England. — On  Board  the  Java. — Her  Passengers. — 
Moutrose-on-Hudson. — Return  to  Auburn. — Mr.  Seward's  Speech  to  his  Neigh- 
bors,    ''OS 

Index, '21 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIOl^S. 


TAGE 
rORTRAIT     OF    Mk.    SeWAUD    (on    StOPl) 

Frontispiece 

Mr.  Seward's  Garden  at  Auburn 1 

Mr.  Scward'.s  Home 4 

New  Suspension  Bridge,  Niagara  Falls.  5 

Cheyenne 10 

Summit 11 

Wahsatch  Range 12 

Leutze's  "  Course  of  Empire." 13 

Devil's  Gate,  AVeber  Canon 13 

Pulpit  Rock 14 

Thousand-Mile  Tree 15 

Salt  Lake  Valley 16 

Mormon  Tabernacle 17 

Brigham  Young's  Residence 19 

The  Remnant  of  a  Tribe 23 

Mouth  of  Big  Cottonwood  Caiion 24 

San  Francisco 26 

Cliff  House,  San  Francisco 27 

Golden  Gate 28 

Meeting  of  the  Steamers  in  Mid-ocean.  31 

Fusi  Yama,  Coast  of  Japan 34 

Yokohama,  Japan 38 

Japanese  Barbers 39 

Japanese  Girls 40 

Japanese  Cemetery 41 

A  Japanese  Garden 43 

Tea-house  on  the  Tokaido 44 

Group  on  the  Tokaido 45 

Temple  at  Kamakura 46 

Dalbutz 47 

Japanese  Bonzes 48 

American  Legation  at  Yeddo 52 


FAQB 

Japanese  Officer  of  State 55 

Japanese  Interpreter,  in  Court  Dress..  57 

Interior  of  Sheba 59 

Tombs  of  the  Tycoons 60 

Nippon-Bas,  Yeddo 61 

British  Legation,  Yeddo 61 

HamagotOn 63 

Japanese  Musician 64 

A  Book-store  at  Yeddo 66 

Daimios'  Quarter,  Yeddo 69 

United  States  Consulate,  Eiogo 76 

Temple  at  Osaka 78 

Street  in  Osaka 80 

Entrance  to  Nagasaki 83 

Nagasaki  Harbor 84 

Temple  of  Buddha  at  Nagasaki 85 

View  of  Decima 86 

Woosung 94 

Mandarin  Procession 96 

Custom-House,  Shanghai 98 

Mouth  of  the  Yang-tse-kiang 103 

Promontory  of  Shan-Tung 104 

Chinese  Fishing-smack 105 

Chinese  Dogs Ill 

Boats  on  the  Pei-ho  River 114 

Chinese  Agriculture 119 

Western  Gate,  Peking 1 32 

Lupis-lazuli  Cat 135 

Ancient  Observatory,  or  Hall  of  Science  139 

Prince  Kung 142 

Yang-Fang 147 

Wife  of  Yang-Fang.     (From  a  Photo- 
graph by  himself.) 148 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


XI 


PAGE 

Long  Nails 149 

Yang-Fang's  Smoking-room 151 

Chinese  Gate-way 152 

Temple  of  Heaven 155 

Tablet  Hall 157 

The  Temple  of  Confucius 161 

Gate  of  the  Temple  of  Confucius,  Pe- 
king   162 

Image  of  Confucius 163 

Chinese  Cart 173 

The  Litter 174 

Summer  Palace 176 

Bridge  on  the  Grounds  of  the  Summer 

Palace 177 

Nan-Kow  Pass 180 

The  Great  Wall 182 

Gate  at  Nan-Kow 183 

Gate-way  at  Ming  Tombs 189 

Avenue  to  the  Ming  Tombs 192 

Bridge  at  Nanking,  and  Porcelain  Tow- 
er before  its  Destruction 211 

The  Upper  Yang-tse-kiang 212 

Little  Orphan  Island 213 

Chinese  Theatricals 220 

Silver  Island,  on  the  Yang-tse-kiang. .  .  225 

Scene  on  the  Imperial  Canal 229 

Hong-Kong 231 

Trading-Junk 232 

Street  in  Canton 236 

Entrance  to  the  Temple  of  Honan.  . . .  240 

Poon-ting-gua's  Villa 245 

Opium-Smokers 247 

Chinese  Tombs 252 

View  in  Hong-Kong. 253 

Saigon,  at  the  Mouth 263 

Native  of  Saigon 265 

Artisan's  House  at  Saigon 267 

Queen  of  Cambodia 268 

Singapore 279 

Street  in  Batavia 281 

Married  Woman  of  Java 282 

A  Javanese  Girl 284 

Scene  in  Java 286 

Government  House,  Java 287 

Lily  Pond,  Palace  Ground.*,  Java 288 

Tropical  Foliage,  Java 290 

Javanese  Fruit 291 

Scene  in  Java 292 

The  Regent  Prawiro  da  Kcdya.. 296 

The  Regent  of  Bandong,  wiih  his  Offi- 
cers   300 


PAGE 

A  Hostelry  in  Java 301 

Dancing-Costume 304 

Dancing-Girl 305 

Bath  at  Sindanlaya 311 

Javanese 314 

Government  House,  Madras 328 

Madras 337 

The  Surf  at  Madras 349 

Residence  of  Richard  McAlister,  Cal- 
cutta   353 

The   Maharajah   of   Putteeala,    Grand 
Commander  of  the  Star  of  India. .   361 

Palace  of  the  King  of  Oude 366 

Barrackpore 371 

Maharajah  of  Benares 375 

Nautch  Girls 377 

Benares,  from  the  Ganges 378 

Great  Buddhist  Tower  at  Sarnath 379 

Carving  on  Buddhist  Tower  at  Sarnath.  380 

Ghauts  at  Benares 382 

Temples  at  Benares 384 

Queen's  College,  Benares 384 

Residency  at  Lucknow 386 

Exterior  of  the  Fort 388 

Inlaid  Screen,  Tomb  of  Mina  Begum, 

Agra 389 

Scene  on  the  Road  to  Futtehpore  Sikra.  390 

Saracenic  Gate. . .   391 

Pillar  in  Ak bar's  Council-Chamber. . . .   393 

Ranch  Mahal 393 

Carved  Pillars  in  the  Ruins  of  Futteh- 
pore Sikra 394 

Akbar's  Tomb  at  Secundra 395 

Taj-Mahal 398 

Cotton-Merchants,  Agra 402 

The  Taj,  from  the  Fountain 403 

The  Kootub  Minar 407 

Elephants  on  the  March  at  Putteeala. .  418 

A  Conjurer  at  Putteeala 423 

Elephants  with  Howdahs .  . .  425 

The  Prince  of  Putteeala 427 

The  Himalayas 436 

The  Nerbudda 441 

Parsee  Children 445 

Entrance  to  the  Caves  of  Elephanta. . .  449 

Aden 471 

Isma'ilia 484 

View  on  the  Nile 489 

A  Girl  of  Cairo 497 

The  Pyramids  of  Gizeh 499 

The  Sphinx 501 


xu 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAOE 

A  Street  in  Cairo 6()7 

Street  in  Cairo 509 

Mosiiuc  and  Houses  in  Cairo 510 

Interior  of  a  Mosque,  Cairo 512 

Cairo,  from  tlie  East 516 

A  Woman  on  the  Nile 524 

Temple  of  Dendcra 530 

Thebes 534 

Obelisks  at  Karnak 536 

Columns  at  Karnak 539 

Gate  at  Karnak 540 

Capitals  of  Columns  at  Esnch 551 

Yousscf  and  his  Donkey 553 

Phila; 560 

Pompey's  Pillar 572 

Jaffa 570 

Our  Caravan 580 

Dome  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sep- 
ulchre    586 

Mosque  of  Omar 591 

Bethlehem 595 

Mosque  on  the  Mount  of  Olives 598 


PAOB 

Jews'  Wailing-Piace 601 

Tower  of  David,  Jerusalem 606 

Ancient  Syra  and  Modern  Hcrmopolis.   621 

A  Greek  Official 622 

A  Group  of  Ileads  from  the   Cesnola 

Collection 623 

Athens 627 

A  Greek  Woman 628 

Bridge  at  Elcusis 629 

The  Temple  of  Victory,  Athens 631 

Albanian  Costume 635 

Ancient  Pillar  at  Constantinople 639 

Fountain  of  the  Seraglio 640 

Turkish  Woman  in  Street  Dress 643 

Turkish  Girl  in  a  Harem 645 

Count  von  Beust 666 

Cardinal  Antonelli 674 

Genoa 683 

Drouyn  de  Lhuys 702 

Hamburg 712 

A  Map   showing  Mr.  Seward's  Koute 

through  Asia,  Africa,  ai-d  Europe. .   720 


PART  I. 

UNITED  STATES,  CANADA,  AND  PAGIFIO  OCEAN, 


AUBURN  TO  SAN  FRANCISCO. 


Mr.  Seward's  Companions. — His  Farewell  to  his  Neighbors. — Western  New  York. — 
Niagara. — Canada  and  its  Destiny. — Influence  of  Immigration. — Africo-Americans. — 
Detroit. — Chicago. — President  Grant. — Mississippi  and  Missouri  Kivers.  —  Cedar 
Rapids.— Omaha.— New  Classification  of  States.  —  Council  Bluffs.— Bridges  over 
Navigable  Rivers.— Settlement  of  Western  States.— Cheyenne.— The  Roclvy  Moun- 
tains.— Influence  of  Mountain  States.— Sherman.— Separation.— Mountain  Nomen- 
clature.-Weber  Canon. — Salt  Lake  City. — The  Mormons,  their  Doctrines,  Secular 
Priesthood.— Brigham  Young's  Sermon.— His  Family.- Polygamy.-The  Irrepres- 
sible Conflict  in  Utah.— The  Shoshones.- Destiny  of  the  Indians.— Sierra  Nevada, 
— Reno.— Railroads  Result  of  Abolition  .f  Slavery.  —  Sacramento.— Arrival  at  San 
Francisco. — CiviUzation  of  California. — Chinese  Immigration. 


Auburn,  August  9,  1870. — Every  study  must  have  a  beginning 
and  an  end.     These  notes  begin  at  Mr.  Seward's  embowered  home, 


4  UNITED   STATES,   CANADA,   AND  PACIFIC   OCEAN. 

"wlience  our  journey  will  begin,  and  tlicy  will  end  here,  where,  with 
God's  blessing,  the  journey  will  end. 

Mr.  Seward  is  accompanied  by  Olive  Risley  Seward,  his  adopted 
daughter,  and  by  her  sister.  Miss  Risley.  The  former,  in  writing 
these  notes,  records  his  political,  social,  moral,  and  philosophical 
observations  and  reflections,  in  his  own  words.  Hanson  A.  Risley 
accompanies  him  only  to  the  Pacific.  Mr.  Alexander  W.  Kandall 
and  Mrs.  Randall,  and  Mr.  George  F.  Seward  and  Mrs.  Seward, 
will  join  him  at  San  Francisco. 

A  thousand  neighbors  and  friends  are  gathered  around,  whose 
parting  words  are  made  more  touching  by  the  fears  and  anxieties 
which  they  express  concerning  Mr.  Seward's  impaired  strength. 
His  resolute  nature  suggests  the  encouragement  they  need :  "  Travel 
improves  health  instead  of  exhausting  it."  "  The  journey,  though 
long,  is  now  made  easy  by  steam  on  land  and  sea."  "  When  I 
come  back,  remember  to  meet  me  at  the  eastern  door  of  the  railway- 
station,  though  we  part  at  the  western  one." 

Niagara  Falls,  August  IQth. — Leaving  the  pleasant  shore  of  the 
Owasco  Lake,  we  crossed  the  Cayuga,  passed  around  the  foot  of  the  C=>  ; 
Seneca,  with  its  beautiful  village   of   Geneva,  looked  upon   the  (£' 
Canandaigua  from  its  encircling  hills,  and  came  to  a  rest  at  Eoch- 
ester,  where  the  branches  of  the  Central  Railroad  unite.     Thence,  -  - 
this  morning,  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Ontario  to  IS'iagara. 

The  plain  of  Western  New  York,  gently  descending  from  the 
lakes  to  the  Hudson,  and,  under  a  traditional  policy,  well  improved 
with  canals  and  railroads,  has,  from  the  earliest  period  of  colonial 
settlement,  been  a  national  thoroughfare. 

The  enlightened  political  economy,  as  well  as  the  liberal  princi- 
ples and  elevated  social  sentiments  for  which  the  State  of  New  York 
is  distinguished,  is  strongly  reflected  in  the  constitutions,  laws,  and 
manners,  of  the  new  Western  States. 

We  see,  at  Niagara,  for  the  first  time,  the  new  bridge  which  has 
been  built  just  below  the  great  cataract.  Like  the  old  one,  it  is 
graceful  enough ;  but,  "  insatiate  "  bridge-makers,  "  could  not  one 
suffice  ? "     George  P.  Marsh  is  right.     Civilization  is  a  constant 


0 

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CAXADA  AXD   ITS  DESTIXY.  5 

warfare  of  man  against  ]S"ature.     !N'ature,  however,  was  made  for 
man,  not  man  for  Xatm-e. 

Chatham,  Canada,  August  10th. — It  was  rather  a  surprise  to 
meet  a  United  States  consul  at  Clifton  when  we  were  less  than 


NEW   SUSPENSION   BBIDGE,    NLiGAEA   FALLS. 

twenty-four  hours  from  home.  But  why  do  we  go  through  Canada 
instead  of  keeping  our  own  lake-shore  ?  Because  the  Canadian 
route  is  the  more  direct  one  to  Detroit.  Moreover,  have  we  not 
come  abroad  to  see  foreign  countries,  rather  than  om*  own  ? 

Canada,  though  no  less  fertile,  is  more  thinly  inhabited  than 
the  American  shore.  Immigration  obeys  political  instincts.  It 
prefers  the  established  equality  and  social  security  of  the  United 
States.  It  will  be  long  before  either  Canada  or  Mexico  can  realize 
its  invigorating  power.  This  may  seem  hard,  but  it  is  clear  that 
only  one  great  nation  can  be  built  on  one  continent  at  one  time. 
The  remedy  for  both  of  those  countries  is  the  same — accession  to 
the  United  States.  Canada  has  hesitated  long,  but  it  will  see  and 
feel  this  truth  at  last — that  it  is  better  to  be  an  equal  constituent 
member  of  a  great,  powerful,  and  free  nation,  than  a  small,  feeble, 
and  isolated  state,  even  though  equally  free. 

At  Chatham,  mainly  a  colored  settlement,  Mr.  Seward  has  been 


6  UNITED  STATES,   CANADA,   AND  PACIFIC  OCEAN. 

received  "with  miicli  respect  and  kindness  by  the  people,  who  seem 
comfortable  and  respectable.  They  are  fugitives  who  made  their 
escape  from  slavery  in  the  United  States,  years  ago,  on  the  "  un- 
derground railway."  Now  that  slavery  has  been  abolished  there, 
doubtless  the  burden  of  their  song  is,  "  Carry  me  back  to  olc 
Yirginny,  to  ole  Yirginny  shore."  The  Africo-American  popula- 
tion is  the  last  one  that  will  desire  to  leave  our  country.  A  hun- 
dred freednicn,  about  Fortress  Monroe,  were  induced  by  high  offers 
and  great  persuasion,  during  our  civil  war,  to  colonize  the  Isle-a- 
Vachie,  in  Ilayti.  They  complained,  moaned,  sickened,  and  lan- 
guished, and  the  government  was  obliged  to  bring  them  back. 

Detroit^  August  Wth. — The  interesting  incident  of  our  stop 
here,  has  been  a  visit  to  Mr.  Seward  of  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Abel  F. 
Fitch,  a  client  of  his  who  died  of  a  broken  heart,  while  Mr.  Seward 
was  struggling  to  save  him  from  an  unjust  conviction  for  conspiracy. 

In  the  "War  of  1812,  Detroit  was  the  theatre  of  a  humiliating 
surrender  and  capitulation,  which  were  hardly  retrieved — just  as 
Bull  Run  was  the  scene  of  a  humiliating  rout,  the  evils  effects  of 
which  only  the  mighty  issues  involved  enabled  the  nation  to  sur- 
mount during  a  four-years'  conflict. 

The  city  grows  steadily  in  opulence  and  refinement. 

Chicago,  August  Wth. — Without  a  prototype,  a  marvel  not 
merely  of  American  progress,  but  of  all  civilization.  "We  asked  an 
English  lady  in  New  York,  who  had  passed  two  weeks  here,  which 
of  our  sea-coast  towns  she  admired  most.  She  answered,  "  Chicago." 
Though  an  inland,  border  town,  it  seems  nevertheless  a  city  by  the 
sea.  Built  in  a  lagoon  like  Yenice,  it  has  raised  itself  high  and  dry 
above  the  flood.  As  mercantile  as  Amsterdam  or  Liverpool,  it  has 
neither  the  hoarding  avarice  of  the  one  nor  the  unscrupulous 
cupidity  of  the  other.  Just  now  grasping,  with  an  iron  arm,  the 
broad  and  fertile  shores  of  the  North  Pacific,  how  splendid  seems 
the  destiny  of  Chicago !  ^ 

"We  meet  here  the  President  of  the  United  States.  His  charac- 
teristic modesty  has  until  now  been  a  theme  of  universal  praise. 


CEDAPw   RAPIDS.  7 

But  mankind  have  always  expected  demonstration  of  power,  pomp, 
or  speech  from  their  rulers.  Will  they  excuse  the  want  of  it  even 
in  the  great  General  of  the  Civil  War  i 

Omaha,  August  16th. 

"  It's  over  the  river,  and  over  the  sea, 
And  it's  over  the  water  to  Charlie." 

It  is  over  the  Mississippi  River,  and  it  is  over  the  Missouri 
Eiver,  and  over  a  sea  of  prairie  five  hundi*ed  miles,  from  Chicago  to 
Omaha.  Seventy  years  ago,  the  Mississippi  River  divided  the 
United  States  from  the  dominion  of  France.  Sixty  years  ago  Lewis 
and  Clark  found  only  wild  Xature  and  savage  men  beyond  the 
Missouri.  Fifteen  years  ago,  the  States  of  the  Union  were  politi- 
cally as  well  as  geographically  classified  as  the  Northern  States 
and  the  Southern  States.  To-day,  it  is  not  a  parallel  of  latitude, 
but  an  uncertain  and  shifting  meridional  line,  that  determines  their 
classification. 

Of  the  towns  which  have  sprung  up  on  the  plains,  we  notice 
Cedar  Rapids — not  for  its  superiority  to  others,  but  as  a  specimen 
of  an  inchoate  Western  city.  During  ten  minutes'  stay  there,  we 
saw  the  suburban  cottages,  with  pointed  roofs,  of  the  IS^orwegian 
settlers,  surrounded  by  dark-green  meadows,  covered  with  flocks 
of  geese  and  eider-ducks.  We  heard  airs  from  "  Trovatore  "  on  a 
Chickering  piano,  in  a  dwelling-house  not  yet  painted  or  plastered. 
We  saw  a  Mansard  mansion  of  the  speculator  in  city  lots,  its  lawn 
graced  with  a  bevy  of  croquet-players.  There  seem  to  be  all  sorts 
of  churches  for  all  sects  of  Christians — one  surmounted  with  a 
Catholic  cross,  and  one  with  dome  and  minaret  borrowed  from  the 
Mohammedan  mosque.  There  are  restless  ex-press-agents,  nimble 
telegraph-messengers,  noisy  baggage-men  and  porters.  Even  the 
Washington  City  colored  boy  is  seen  there,  sauntering  lazily 
through  the  crowd,  and  repeating,  "Black  your  boots  and  shine 
'era  up  ? "  with  the  poetical  variation,  "  A  shine  for  a  dime."  Two 
young  lady-cousins  come  into  the  cars,  and  soon  let  us  into  more 
secrets  of  matrimonial  engagements  and  other  interesting  events 


8  UXITED   STATES,   CANADA,   AND   PACIFIC   OCEAN. 

whicli  are  occurring  in  the  "  society "  of  Cedar  Rapids  than  we 
have  room  to  relate. 

Council  Bluffs,  on  the  Missouri  River,  the  connecting  station  of 
the  Eastern  railroads  with  the  Union  Pacific,  is  fifteen  miles  below 
the  historical  Council  Bluffs,  where  the  first  treaty  between  the 
United  States  and  the  Indians  of  the  plains  was  celebrated.  "Will 
not  Congress  its  "  canon  fix  'gainst "  this  practice  of  confounding 
history  by  transposing  geographical  names  ? 

There  is  a  fierce  competition  here  between  Council  Bluffs  and 
Omaha  for  the  transshipment  of  passengers  and  freight.  The  new 
bridge,  which  is  being  built  over  the  Missouri,  is  likely  to  decide  it 
by  bringing  the  two  flourishing  towns  into  one. 

By-the-way,  how  rapidly  the  construction  of  this  "  mighty  maze  " 
of  railroads  is  breaking  up  the  ancient  idea  of  the  sacredness  of 
river  navigation  against  interruption  by  bridges !  It  cost  a  long 
and  exhausting  litigation  to  ascertain  whether  the  Legislature  of  a 
State,  or  even  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  could  authorize 
the  throwing  of  a  bridge  across  the  Hudson  or  the  Ohio,  or  even 
across  a  boatable  inlet  of  Delaware  Bay. 

While,  however,  they  are  building  a  bridge  here,  we  must  be 
content  to  cross  the  Missouri  by  a  ferry.  A  huge  and  heavy  steam- 
boat, a  double-ender,  starts  from  a  point  high  above  Council  Bluffs, 
and  is  skilfully  steered  first  downward,  then  upward,  through  the 
dashing,  muddy  waters,  to  a  landing-place  far  below  Omaha.  The 
passengers  of  several  converging  Eastern  trains  rush  promiscuously 
toward  the  broad  deck  with  their  baggage,  movables,  and  "  things." 
Do  you  see  that  little  wooden  shanty,  on  the  receding  bank,  with 
two  bottles  of  whiskey  in  the  window,  and  the  monitory  words  over 
the  door,  "  Last  Chance  ? "  Everybody  tells  his  business  to  eveiy- 
body,  and  everybody  asks  everybody  his  opinions  and  prospects. 
Boston,  'New  York,  and  Chicago  merchants,  bankers,  and  printers, 
are  going  to  establish  branches,  agencies,  and  printing-presses,  along 
the  railroads  in  Wyoming,  Utah,  Idaho,  N'evada,  Oregon,  and  Cali- 
fornia; lithe,  active,  and  bright,  all-loquacious,  and  at  the  same 
time  dogmatic  politicians,  who  fasten  themselves  tenaciously  upon. 
"  the  stranger,"  whether  lawyer,  priest,  trader,  or  farmer,  to  gain 


CHEYENNE.  9 

an  opinion  on  the  probable  result  of  the  presidential  election,  yet 
three  years  distant,  of  the  prospect  of  an  early  resumption  of  specie 
payments,  or  of  the  duration,  the  immediate  result,  and  the  ulterior 
consequences  of  the  war  which  broke  out  only  a  week  ago  in  Europe. 
Did  not  our  servant,  William  Freeman,  who  has  just  come  to  his 
political  rights  under  the  fifteenth  amendment,  feel  his  importance 
when  called  on  to  expound  these  high  mysteries  ?  See  that  group 
of  juvenile  Italians,  with  violins  and  harps  realizing  a  profuse  con- 
tribution in  reward  for  a  rather  doubtful  performance  of  "  II  Bacio." 
Hear  this  strong-minded  woman  narrate  to  a  skeptical  audience 
her  successful  achievement  in  establishing  woman's  suffrage  in 
"Wyoming  and  Utah.  An  express-agent  tells  Mr.  Seward  that  he 
has  just  sent  to  Auburn  the  largest  pair  of  elk-horns  in  the  velvet 
that  could  be  found  in  Nevada.  That  cluster  standing  near  the 
wheel-house,  have  sold  out  their  farms  in  Missouri,  and  are  going 
to  look  for  new  ones  in  Willamette  Yalley  or  Southern  California. 
This  group  of  Indians,  gay  with  feathers  and  paint,  are  Dakota 
chiefs  retm'ning  to  their  tribe,  to  relate  the  wonders  they  saw  when 
sitting  around  the  "  big  kettle  "  which  the  "  great  father "  hung 
over  the  fire  for  them  at  Washington.  This  sturdy  fellow  in  blue 
is  an  Irish  recruit  of  the  United  States  Army,  going  to  join  his 
regiment  at  Laramie,  accompanied  by  a  wife,  six  rosy-cheeked  chil- 
dren, a  spaniel,  terrier,  two  brindle  cats,  and  a  speckled  hen.  It  is 
altogether  too  much  to  expect  that  the  entire  family  will  escape  the 
perils  of  Indian  warfare.  It  is  a  notable  feature  of  the  motley 
crowd  that  it  contains  not  one  mere  laboring  man  or  woman. 
Whence,  then,  and  how  is  the  labor  to  come  which  is  to  irrigate  the 
deserts,  build  the  roads,  and  open  the  mines  ?  We  may  safely  leave 
the  question  to  its  practical  solution.  American  progress  and  civi- 
lization "  know  no  such  word  as  fail." 

We  record  our  thanks  to  General  Auger  for  the  kind  atten- 
tions shown  us  at  the  garrison,  and  for  his  orders  providing  for 
our  safety  and  comfort  through  his  wide  department ;  and  to  the 
judges,  members  of  the  bar,  and  other  citizens  for  their  public 
and  private  hospitalities. 


10 


UNITED   STATES,    CANADA,  AND   PACIFIC   OCEAN. 


Cheyenne,  August  Vdh. — Onward  and  upward,  a  night  and  a 
day  in  a  distance  of  five  hundred  miles ;  we  have  gained  a  height 
of  five  thousand  feet  on  the  slope  of  the  Kocky  Mountains.  The 
country  seems,  nevertheless,  a  level  plain.  There  is  neither  crag, 
nor  rock,  nor  dell ;  and  even  the  flow  of  the  beautiful  Platte  River, 
though  quick  and  free,  is  without  cascade  or  rapids.  "We  have  passed 
almost  imperceptibly  from  a  landscaj)e  of  Indian  corn  and  wheat 
fields,  orchards,  and  vineyards,  to  an  endless  slope  covered  with 
short  and  grayish,  but  nutritious  blue-grass,  late  the  pasturage  of 
countless  buflalo-herds,  now  replaced  by  scattered  droves  of  lank 


cattle,  driven  here  from  Texas  and  Mexico.  The  gopher  freely  dis- 
ports himself  in  our  way ;  the  antelope,  as  if  under  a  fascination, 
shyly  gazes  upon  us  with  his  soft  blue  eyes ;  and  the  prairie-dogs, 
sitting  erect  at  the  doors  of  their  tenements,  solemnly  review  us 
from  their  thousand  cities.  We  expected,  on  arriving  here,  to  see 
the  towering  Black  Hills,  and  perhaps  the  more  distant  Snowy 
Range ;  but  the  thermometer  has  fallen  to  36°,  and  the  barometer 
we  know  not  how  low.  Heavy  clouds  rest  on  the  earth  all  around 
us,  and  nothing  can  be  seen  beyond  or  over  them. 


INFLUEXCE   OF  MOUNTAIN   STATES. 


11 


The  Territory  of  "Wyoming,  of  which  Cheyenne  is  the  capital, 
has  a  population  outside  of  the  town  not  exceeding  two  thousand 
Cheyenne  grew  rapidly  during  the  construction  of  the  Pacific  Rail- 
road, but  now,  suflering  a  decline,  it  may  number  twenty-five  hun- 
dred. It  has,  however,  just  been  connected  by  railroad  with 
Denver,  and  so  with  St.  Louis.  The  territorial  government,  there- 
fore, seems  a  machine  prepared  for  future  rather  than  immediate 
use.  The  army  secures  the  people  against  intrusion  by  Indians, 
and  keeps  the  peace.  Governor  Campbell,  with  the  Secretary  of 
State  and  the  Surveyor-General,  received  us  at  the  station,  and, 
apologizing  for  the  straitness  of  their  dwellings,  delivered  us  over 
to  General  King  and  General  Bradley,  who  have  cordially  conferred 
upon  us  the  freedom  of  the  mess. 


J^i,%  s^ 


SUMMIT. 


What  is  to  be  the  political  influence  of  these  new  mining  and 
mountain  States  %  Their  foimders  are  energetic,  enterprising  and 
persevering  men.  Mountaineers  are  always  frugal  and  brave,  as 
well  as  intense  lovers  of  freedom.  Their  loyalty  will  never  fail,  if 
the  Union  shall  continue  to  deserve  it. 


12 


UNITED   STATES,   CANADA,  AND  PACIFIC  OCEAN. 


Sherman^  August  l^th. — Sherman,  eight  thousand  feet  above 
the  sea !  We  have  made  a  winding  way  between  the  crests  of  the 
Black  Hills,  and  these  are  only  a  lower  tier  of  the  snow-clad  moun- 
tains. The  pass  is  treeless,  shi'ubless,  flowerless ;  the  rocks  on  the 
mountain-sides  massive,  brown,  monotonous.  What  were  the  Rocky 
Mountains  made  for  ?  Some  of  their  uses  are  obvious.  A  water- 
shed, they  irrigate  the  continent,  while  they  stimulate  human 
activity  by  obstructing  movement  and  hiding  mineral  treasure, 
l^ow  gently  descending  the  western  slope  live  hundred  feet,  we 
come  upon  the  great  grassy  plain  of  Laramie,  on  which  civilization 
is  making  rapid  advancement.  Five  hundred  feet  lower,  through 
beds  of  crumbling  red  sandstone,  we  land  on  a  broad  floor  of  cannel- 


WAHSATCH  BANGB. 


coal.  Prudent  Kature  foresaw  the  Pacific  Railroad  and  the  minincr- 
shaft.  Onward  forty  miles,  downward  how  many  feet  we  do  not 
know,  in  the  Wahsatch  Yalley,  we  come  to  a  settlement  which  bears 
the  ominous  name  of  Separation.  It  is  the  parting  between  the 
tributaries  of  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  Ocean. 


MOUXTAIX  NOMENCLATURE. 


13 


How  odd  and  yet  how  significant  is  the  nomenclature  of  the 
mountain  scenery :  "  Bed  Desert,"  "  Table  Eock,"  "  Black  Butte," 
"  Bitter  Creek ! "  Now,  slowly  by  winding  grades,  we  climb  the 
Wahsatch  Kange,  only  five  hundi-ed  feet  lower  than  Sherman  ;  we 
stand  on  the  eastern  rim  of  the  central  basin  of  the  continent.     We 


devil's  gate,  webeb  caSon. 


recognize  and  hail  the  rugged  yellow  cliff  and  far-reaching  plain, 
which,  under  the  light  of  a  gorgeous  sunset,  Leutze  has  copied  in  his 
great  fresco  in  the  Capitol,  "  Westward  the  Course  of  Empire  takes 
its  Way."     Hence  we  hurry  rapidly  downward  toward  the  reservoir 


14 


UNITED   STATES,   CANADA,  AND  PACIFIC   OCEAN. 


of  the  basin,  tlie  broad,  blue  Salt  Lake.  The  face  of  the  Wahsatch 
Mountains  wears  no  resemblance  to  Atlantic  scenery.  These  dis- 
jointed masses  of  rocks,  fractured  and  shivered,  look  as  if  they  had 
resisted  lightning,  tempest,  ice,  and  flood,  for  ages.  Sublime  devas- 
tation !  The  Weber  River,  here  only  a  foaming  torrent,  has  worked 
out  for  itself  an  arched  passage  darker  and  more  majestic  than 
Gothic  art  ever  designed.  The  mountain-dwellers  call  it  the  Devil's 
Gate.  There  are  miles  where  a  declivity,  otherwise  unbroken,  pre- 
sents at  irregular  intervals  a  high,  conical  basalt  rock,  standing  like 
the  tower  of  a  castle  whose  domes  and  walls  have  been  swejDt  away, 
and  buried  in  the  earth.     One  of  these  bears  the  name  of  Pulpit 


PULPIT  EOCK. 


Rock,  and,  though  inaccessible,  it  is  believed  by  the  credulous  that 
Brigham  Young  from  its  level  summit  rallied  his  hosts  to  repel  the 
army  of  General  Johnson. 

In  the  "Weber  Canon,  at  the  foot  of  the  "Wahsatch  Range,  the 
torrent  subsides  into  a  quiet  stream.  On  its  bank  is  an  old  and 
solitary  pine-tree,  which  bears   a   board   on   which   is  inscribed, 


SALT  LAKE   CITY. 


15 


"  One  tliousand  miles  from  Omaha."  Here  all  travellers  rest  and 
meditate ;  and  many,  proud  of  the  great  achievement,  record  their 
names.  Let  no  one  suppose  that,  because  Salt  Lake  Plain  is  called 
a  valley,  it  is  therefore  level,  smooth,  or  grassy.  The  plain  is 
but  a  table-land,  broken  by  mountain-spurs,  and  hilly  ranges  rise 
from  the  bosom  of  the  lake  itself,  aifording  pastm-age  for  herds  of 
wild-horses. 


THOrrSATTD-MILE  TBEE 


Salt  Lake  City,  August  mth.— At  Ogden,  where  the  Salt  Lake 
Valley  Eailroad  intersects  the  continuous  Pacific  Eailroad,  and 
where  many  other  railroads  are  soon  to  meet  it,  we  were  taken  by 
a  special  train,  which  Brigham  Young  had  sent  for  us.  On  arrival 
at  the  station  here,  we  were  received  by  General  De  Trobriand. 

Wearied  and  worn  with  mountain-travel,  a  hostelry  even  less 
neat  and  cheerful  than  the  Townsend  House,  managed  by  an  Eng- 
lishwoman, the  second  of  four  wives,  would  have  been  acceptable 
to  us. 

The  town,  though  so  unique  and  isolated,  is  full  of  visitors  fi'om 


16  UNITED  STATES,   CANADA,  AND  PACIFIC  OCEAN. 

all  parts  of  tlic  United  States  and  Europe,  animated  by  a  common 
sentiment,  curiosity  concerning  the  Mormons— how  they  came  to 
be  here ;  how  they  live  and  act ;  with  what  woes  they  threaten  the 
nation  and  mankind,  and  by  what  means,  moral,  judicial,  political, 
or  military,  the  anomalous  sect  shall  be  brought  to  an  end. 


SALT  LAKE   TALLEt. 


We  attended  divine  service  this  morning  in  a  small  and  plain 
Episcopalian  chapel.  In  the  afternoon,  we  were  accompanied  to 
the  Tabernacle  by  Mr.  Hooper,  Territorial  Delegate  in  Congress. 
The  congregation,  composed  chiefly  of  women  and  childi'en,  "  with 
here  and  there  a  traveller,"  must  have  numbered  seven  or  eight 
thousand.  On  the  platform  were  seated  the  entire  hierarchy,  con- 
sisting of  the  president,  the  apostles,  and  the  high  council,  the  sev- 
enties, the  high-priests,  the  elders,  the  priests,  teachers,  and  deacons. 
Among  these  dignitaries  we  recognized  merchants,  railroad  men, 
mechanics,  and  farmers,  and  it  is  quite  manifest  that  the  priesthood 
is  a  shrewd,  sagacious  body  of  secular  persons.  The  communion  is 
celebrated   every   Sunday,  every  worshipper  participating.      The 


THE  MORMONS,  THEIR  DOCTRINES,  ETC. 


17 


ceremony,  thongh  attended  with  less  solemnity,  is  conducted  in 
the  same  manner  as  in  the  more  popular  Protestant  denominations, 
with  the  difference  that  water  is  used  in  place  of  wine,  a  special 
prayer  being  ofiered  that  the  substitution  may  be  approved.  The 
first  preacher  argued  that,  according  to  divine  promise,  the  kingdom 
of  God  came  upon  the  earth  immediately  after  the  departure  of  the 
Saviour ;  that  this  kingdom  has  a  key ;  that  the  Church  early  lost  it, 
and  that  the  Latter-Day  Saints  have  found  it ;  that  it  is  nothing 
less  than  the  true  principle  of  marriage,  namely,  that  marriage  is 
not  merely  a  union  for  earthly  life,  but  a  spiritual  bond  extending 
through  time  and  eternity  :  the  Mormons  having  unlocked  the  gates 
with  the  newly-discovered  key,  are  inviting  and  expecting  all  nations 
to  enter  and  build  up  the  kingdom  of  God. 


MORMON   TABEBNACI.E. 


During  the  service  thus  far,  Brigham  Toung  sat  a  silent  and 
meditative  observer.  He  now  rose,  and  a  profound  stillness  came 
over  the  congregation.  He  dwelt  briefly  on  the  devotion,  zeal, 
faith,  constancy,  conflicts,  and  suff'erings,  of  the  founders  of  the 

3 


18  UNITED   STATES,   CANADA,  AND   PACIFIC   OCEAN. 

Mormon  Church.  From  its  past  triumphs,  and  its  present  security, 
he  inferred  the  favor  of  the  Divine  Author  of  the  Christian  religion. 
Lilve  tlie  previous  spealier,  he  seemed  to  avoid  the  subject  of  po- 
lygamy, while  he  claimed  for  the  new  church  a  close  conformity 
to  the  practices  of  the  early  Christians,  and  the  enjoyment  of  new, 
special,  and  continuous  revelations.  No  Christian  teacher  claims  for 
the  writings  of  Isaiah  or  Jeremiah,  or  of  Matthew,  Luke,  or  John, 
more  divine  illumination  or  infallibility  than  the  speaker  demanded 
for  the  attested  manuscripts  of  Joseph  Smith.  After  descanting,  in 
a  few  glowing  words,  upon  the  certain  acceptance  of  the  new  faith 
immediately,  and  throughout  the  whole  world,  he  warned  the  saints 
of  the  danger  of  filling  from  the  faith,  saying,  with  all  the  vehemence 
of  prophetic  denunciation,  "Ilell  awaits  the  backslider ! "  After  a 
kind  allusion  to  Mr.  Seward's  presence,  the  sermon  ran  to  incoher- 
ent and  pointless  exhortation.  The  service  ended,  Brigham  Young 
greeted  Mr.  Seward,  and  asked  leave  to  visit  him  in  the  evening. 

The  veneration  which  a  Koman  Catholic,  Episcopalian  or  Method- 
ist congregation  manifest  toward  a  prelate  of  their  order,  at  whose 
hand  they  have  received  a  sacrament,  is  indifference  itself  compared 
with  the  awe  and  reverence  paid  to  the  President  of  the  Latter-Day 
Saints  as  he  retired  from  the  Tabernacle. 

Brigham  Young,  accompanied  by  four  sons  and  three  elders, 
passed  the  long  evening  in  conversation,  religious,  political  and 
secular,  with  Mr.  Seward.  At  the  close,  with  an  air  as  free  from 
embarrassment  as  the  patriarch  Jacob  might  have  shown  in  a  like 
case,  he  invited  Mr.  Seward  to  visit  some  of  his  houses  the  next 
day,  and  see  his  family. 

August  22(:?. — The  President  came  with  carriages,  and  drove  us 
first  to  visit  his  wife  Emeline,  a  matron  of  fifty,  with  her  ten  chil- 
dren, from  the  ages  of  twenty-five  downward.  Thence  to  the  house 
of  Amelia,  who  seems  thirty-five  years.  She  has  been  married  two 
or  three  years,  and  has  no  children.  She  invited  the  ladies  to  try 
her  new  piano.  We  then  drove  to  the  dwelling  of  the  first  wife. 
This  house,  the  first  which  Brigham  Young  built  in  the  city, 
shows  him  to  be  a  skilful  mechanic,  with  a  considerable  knowledge 


BEIGHAM  YOUXG'S  FAMILY. 


19 


of  architecture.  She  was  surrounded  by  her  sons,  Hiram  Young, 
Brigliam  Young,  Jr.,  and  their  several  wives,  who  all  seemed  to 
regard  their  aged  mother  with  proper  filial  aiiection.  Thence  we 
repaired  to  the  "  Bee-hive,"  a  complex  building,  or  group  of  build- 
ings, in  which  the  remaining  families  of  Brigham  Young  reside. 
Thej  have  different  suites  of  apartments,  connected  by  corridors 
or  piazzas  with  the  garden,  a  common  dining-room,  and  a  saloon 
used  as  a  music-hall  and  chapel.     The  furniture  and  appointments 


BEIGHAM  TOUNG'S   EE9IDKNCB. 


of  the  "  Bee-hive,"  like  those  of  the  other  houses,  are  frugal  but 
comfortable,  and  order  and  cleanliness  prevail  in  them  all.  Wo 
were  received  here  by  eight  wives  and  their  children.  The  chil- 
dren, a  large  proportion  of  whom  are  girls,  with  blue  eyes  and 
flaxen  hair,  strongly  resemble  their  father  and  each  other.  All  are 
educated  upon  the  academic  standard  of  the  "Western  country.  All 
we  saw  were  healthful,  intelligent,  sprightly,  happy  and  mutually 
affectionate,  without  regard  to  the  difference  of  mothers;  equally 
free  from  boldness  and  awkwardness.     The  mothers,  women   of 


20  UNITED   STATES,    CANADA,   AND   PACIFIC   OCEAN. 

sad  de2:)ortmeiit,  are  entirely  devoted  to  tlieir  children.  All  the 
wives  are  uneducated,  except  Amelia,  who  was  before  marriage  au 
accomplished  school-teacher.  If  there  is  any  jealousy  among  them, 
it  escaped  our  penetration.  The  mind  of  the  first  wife  is  impaired 
either  by  age  or  by  trouble.  She  sj)oke  severely  of  Gentile  cen se- 
riousness. We  were  served  at  every  house  with  the  choicest  of 
native  fruits  and  native  wine.  Except  the  coachman,  we  saw  no 
servants.  At  the  "  Bee-hive,"  each  mother  sits  with  her  children 
at  table,  and  the  several  families  are  served  in  the  order  in  which 
they  are  arranged.  Family  worship  is  conducted  night  and  morning 
by  the  patriarch,  and  attended  by  the  entire  household.  Brigham 
Young's  manner  toward  his  wives  is  respectful,  and  toward  his 
children  dignified  and  affectionate.  In  presenting  them  severally 
as  they  came  in  groups,  with  a  kind  smile  for  the  particidar  mother, 
he  spoke  in  this  way  :  "  This  is  our  delicate  little  Lucy,"  "  This  is 
our  musical  daughter,"  "  This  is  our  son  George,  who  has  a  mathe- 
matical genius,"  and  so  on.  At  the  end  of  the  visit  here,  Brigham 
Young  said  to  Mr.  Seward :  "  You  have  seen  eleven  of  the  sixteen 
wives  with  whom  I  live,  and  nearly  all  of  my  forty -nine  suiwiving 
children." 

"  But,"  said  Mr.  Seward,  "  you  are  represented  as  saying  that 
you  do  not  know  how  many  wives  you  have."  The  President 
explained  that,  besides  the  wives  who  are  married  for  time,  the 
Mormons  believe  in  sealing  other  wives  only  for  eternity,  and,  in 
regard  to  such  women,  he  may  have  made  the  remark  attributed  to 
him. 

Polygamy,  not  at  first  adopted  by  the  Mormons,  is  an  adventi- 
tious feature  of  their  system.  It  was  authorized  by  a  revelation  to 
Joseph  Smith,  which  was  posthumously  published.  The  Church 
at  first  desired  to  suppress  it,  but  it  bore  the  requisite  official  attes- 
tation of  the  prophet,  and  therefore  could  not  be  rejected  without 
shaking  the  foundation  of  the  whole  system.  The  apologies  which 
they  make  for  it  are  not  altogether  destitute  of  plausibility.  It 
promised  to  stimulate  population  when  the  sect  in  a  Territory,  new 
and  isolated,  expected  no  accession  by  immigration,  either  foreign 
or  domestic,  except  of  European  converts.     More  women  than  men 


POLYGAMY.  21 

came  as  such  converts.  Polygamy  provided  shelter  and  material 
comforts  for  supernumerary  women  who  might  otherwise  fall  into 
neglect,  want,  and  possible  infamy.  So  far  it  has  not  proved  in- 
compatible with  the  education  and  training  of  children  in  public 
schools,  nor  with  the  maintenance  of  order  and  tranquillity  among 
the  people.  Time  enough,  however,  has  not  elapsed,  perhaps,  nor 
are  the  conditions  of  the  community  sufficiently  matured,  fully  to 
develop  the  evils  of  the  institution.  Marriage  is  not  exclusively  a 
matter  of  religious  belief.  It  is  a  social  institution.  To  ascertain 
the  just  and  needful  relation  between  the  sexes  in  social  life  has 
been  one  of  the  experimental  studies  of  mankind,  from  the  earliest 
ages,  in  all  countries.  The  marriage  of  one  man  with  one  woman, 
constituting  what  we  call  the  family  relation,  is  the  result  of  that 
great  study  of  civilization.  It  is  universally  accepted  by  Christian 
nations,  the  only  nations  which  enjoy  a  matured  civilization.  Po- 
lygamy is  antagonistic  to,  and  incompatible  with,  the  existence  of 
the  family.  When  the  two  institutions  are  brought  into  contact  in 
any  country,  an  irrepressible  conflict  ensues.  In  all  the  nations  of 
the  East  the  harem  has  hitherto  prevailed  in  that  conflict,  with  the 
results  of  not  merely  the  degradation  but  the  enslaving  of  woman, 
and  the  demoralization  and  corruption  of  the  entire  social  body. 
This  is  the  conflict  which  is  just  now  beginning  in  Utah.  The  end 
is  not  doubtful,  and,  with  the  rapid  increase  of  what  is  called  the 
Gentile  population,  coming  to  develop  the  mineral  and  agricultural 
resources  of  the  central  regions  of  the  continent,  that  end  cannot 
be  distant. 

The  Mormons,  as  a  religious  sect,  soon  to  cast  off  the  heteroge- 
neous and  obnoxious  institution  of  polygamy,  may  survive,  and, 
like  other  religious  and  ecclesiastical  associations,  enjoy  a  long  exist- 
ence. How  long,  may  depend  upon  the  persecution  it  may  })ro- 
voke.  The  field  of  purely  religious  inquiry  is  infinite,  and  the  spirit 
of  search  is  eternal.  It  demands,  and  will  in  all  civilized  states 
henceforth  command,  toleration. 

In  the  aspect  of  political  economy,  Utah  is  a  wonderful  success. 
A  population  of  nearly  one  hundred  thousand,  doubling  every  ten 
years,  occupying  a  soil  naturally  destitute  of  vegetation,  has,  by  irri- 


22  UNITED  STATES,   CANADA,  AND  PACIFIC   OCEAN. 

gation  and  other  processes,  produced  an  abundant  granary  for  sup- 
plying the  wants  of  immigrants  on  their  way  to  the  new  mountain 
States  and  Territories  on  every  side.  Wliatever  may  be  the  future  of 
Utah  and  the  Mormon  sect,  Brigham  Young  will  have  an  historical 
character.  He  was  originally  an  uneducated  carpenter,  in  youth  a 
townsman  of  Mr.  Seward's  at  Auburn.  The  latter,  while  seeing  no 
reason  to  question  Young's  sincerity  in  his  eccentric  religious  faith 
and  practices,  deems  it  unjust  to  deny  him  extraordinary  ability, 
energy,  and  perseverance,  as  a  founder  of  an  American  State.  His 
feilure,  however,  in  one  of  his  designs,  perhaps  at  the  time  the  most 
cherished  of  all,  will  serve  as  a  warning  to  future  American  colo- 
nizers. Leading  his  exiled  and  persecuted  band  from  the  banks 
of  the  Mississippi  across  the  wilderness,  he  refused  to  stop  until  he 
had  found  an  asylum  outside  of  the  territory  and  jurisdiction  of  the 
United  States.  Scarcely,  however,  had  he  discovered  this  land  of 
refuge  in  Mexico,  before  the  Government  acquired  title,  and  ex- 
tended its  authority  over  not  only  that  region,  but  the  whole  coun- 
try to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Elcho^  August  23d. — Brigham  Young,  attended  by  a  group  of 
wives  and  children,  took  leave  of  Mr,  Seward  at  the  station  in  Salt 
Lake  City ;  and  a  committee,  composed  of  Mormon  elders,  came 
with  us  by  special  train  to  Ogden.  There  two  palatial  cars  awaited 
us,  which  had  been  sent  across  the  Sierra  I^evada  by  Mr.  Seward's 
friends  at  Sacramento.  These  are  furnished  with  a  dining-room, 
well-supplied  pantry,  kitchen,  and  sleeping-apartments. 

Salt  Lake,  though  fed  by  saline  springs,  is  the  reservoir  of  many 
mountain-streams,  the  Weber  River,  Bear  River,  Blue  Creek,  and 
others.  Its  waters  are  shallow  and  unwholesome ;  but  we  saw 
cattle  feeding  near  it,  and  land-birds  flying  over  it.  Its  beach  is 
always  thickly  incrusted  with  salt,  produced  by  solar  evaporation. 
Large  timber  grows  in  the  mountain-canons,  and  the  soil,  wherever 
irrigated,  is  prolific  of  cereals,  grasses,  and  fruits.  The  peach, 
plum,  and  grape,  are  unsurpassed,  even  in  California.  Our  last 
sunset  view  of  the  lake,  taken  a  hundred  miles  west  of  Ogden,  was 
one  which  we  are  not  likely  to  forget.     The  great  orb,  suspended 


DESTINY  OF  THE   INDIANS. 


23 


over  the  waters,  kindled  them  to  a,  dazzling  blaze,  while  the  sky- 
was  clothed  in  a  drapery  of  purple  and  gold,  which  extended  in 
broad  and  graceful  festoons  across  the  entire  horizon. 

Here,  at  Elcho,  we  find  a  wretched  and  squalid  remnant  of  the 
Shoshones,  once  the  proprietors  of  the  region  we  are  surveying. 
Must  these  Indian  races  indeed  perish  before  the  march  of  the 
white  man  "i  It  would  seem  so  ;  they  could  only  be  saved  by  con- 
version to  the  usages  and  habits  of  civilization,,  but  all  past  efforts 
to  that  end,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  centre  of  the  continent,  have 


THE   EEMNANT  OF  A   TEIBE. 


failed.  The  experiments  of  the  same  sort  on  the  Pacific  coast  are 
no  more  promising.  The  Aztec  race,  though  it  has  not  increased 
in  numbers,  has  not  diminished  under  Spanish  conquest  and  coloni- 
zation. Exalted  to  citizenship,  suffrage,  and  education,  the  Indians 
of  Mexico  may  be  saved ;  but  it  is  noticeable  that  intermarriages  be- 
tween the  pure  Indians  and  the  Creoles  and  European  immigrants 
have  practically  ceased,  and  that  Mexico  exhibits  therefore  a  nation 
divided  by  castes,  of  which  the  native  one  is  the  most  numerous, 


24 


UI^ITED   STATES,    CANADA,  AND   PACIFIC   OCEAN. 


while  the  foreign  one  is  the  most  wealthy  and  intelligent.  One 
cannot  but  hope  that  the  Aztecs  of  Mexico  may  prove  an  exception 
to  the  elsewhere  universal  process  of  extermination. 

Reno. — On  leaving  Elcho,  we  followed  a  mountain-pass  which 
is  barricaded  with  basalt  columns,  more  picturesque  than  the  ad- 
mired Palisades  of  the  Hudson,  and  this  pass  brought  us  out  on 
the  bank  of  the  Humboldt  River.     We  have  followed  its  wild  and 


MOTTTH   OF   BIG   COTTONWOOD   CASoX. 


winding  way  as  it  flows  over  an  alkaline  bed,  destitute  of  vegeta- 
tion, two  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  until  it  spreads  its  waters  over 
a  broad  and  sterile  plain  and  sinks  into  the  earth.  From  this 
plain  we  began  the  eastern  ascent  of  the  Sierra  Nevada.  The 
poisonous  mineral  dust,  raised  by  the  whirlwind,  was  excoriating 
as  we  passed  over  this  desert  of  the  desert,  seeing  neither  tree  nor 
stream  after  leaving  the  lost  river. 


SACRAMENTO.  25 

We  declined  here  a  pressing  invitation  to  diverge  and  visit 
Virginia  City,  as  we  had  declined  at  Salt  Lake,  Ogden,  Cheyenne, 
and  Omaha,  to  diverge  to  other  points  of  mining  and  political  in- 
terest. The  frequency  of  these  invitations  is  strongly  suggestive 
of  the  rapidity  with  which  branch  railroads  and  common  roads  are 
entwining  the  giant  limbs  of  the  new  members  of  the  republic. 

What  is  the  secret  of  this  sudden  and  prodigious  increase  of 
national  energy  in  the  prosecution  of  internal  improvements  ?  It 
is  one  of  the  first  fruits  of  the  abolition  of  slavery.  Conservatism 
of  the  constitutional  compromises  in  the  interest  of  slavery,  of 
course  in  practice,  became  conservatism  of  slavery  itself,  and  this 
principle,  developed  in  1800,  and  gaining  strength  during  fifty 
years,  has  been  effectually  obstructive  of  material  improvement 
and  national  progress. 

Sacramento^  August  ^oth. — The  desert  is  passed  at  Eeno.  The 
mountain  scenery  becomes  fresh  and  cheerful  with  plentiful  ever- 
green forests,  and,  where  they  have  been  removed,  rich  meadows, 

Mr.  Stanford,  Mr.  Crocker,  and  Mr.  Mills,  met  us  on  the  way, 
and  accompanied  us  down  the  western  slope  of  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
a  long  journey,  though  the  distance  is  short.  The  highest  en- 
gineering skill  must  have  been  employed  in  eflecting  this  passage 
through  mountains  so  rugged,  steep  and  wild.  This  morning  the 
engineer  whistled  "  Down  brakes  !  "  to  avoid  collision  with  a  train 
which  seemed  to  be  coming  from  the  opposite  direction,  but  which 
proved  to  be  the  end  of  our  own  train.  We  left  massive  brown 
mountains,  deep-blue  lakes,  and  canons  clothed  in  evergreen,  and 
entered  a  broad  plain,  lightly  shaded  with  groups  of  laurel  and  live- 
oak.  Kewly-harvested  wheat-fields,  and  fields  yet  covered  with 
native  oats,  are  boundless.  Although  the  engineer  had  brought  us 
here  in  advance  of  the  appointed  hour,  Mr.  Seward  was  neverthe- 
less greeted  with  a  salvo,  and  it  was  not  without  difficulty  that  we 
made  our  way  through  the  friendly  mass  who  were  gathered  to 
welcome  him. 

A  drive  through  city  and  suburbs,  and  over  the  race-course,  a 
dinner  at  Mr.  Stanford's,  and  an  evening  reception  at  Mr.  Crocker's, 


26 


UNITED   STATES,    CANADA,  AND   PACIFIC   OCEAN. 


closed  the  day,  giving  us  a  pleasing  acquaintance  with  the  refined 
and  spirited  society  of  the  capital  of  California. 

San  Francisco,  Sejyteinber  1st. — Mr.  Seward,  desirous  to  avoid 
an  appearance  of  seeking  a  renewal  of  the  hospitalities  extended  to 
him  here  last  year,  on  his  tour  to  Alaska  and  Mexico,  effected  a 
quiet  entrance  into  the  to^vn,  and  we  have  been  the  guests,  since 


SAN  FKANCISCO. 


our  arrival,  of  his  old  friend  and  travelling-coniDanion,  Mr.  Ilastino-s. 
We  have  visited  the  Cliff  House ;  and  made  for  all,  but  Mr.  Seward, 
a  first  acquaintance  with  the  Seal-Ttocks,  their  amphibious  inhabi- 
tants, and  the  Pacific  Ocean.  We  could  not  describe,  if  we  should 
attempt,  the  bewildering  land  excursion  of  two  days,  and  the 
magnificent  entertainment  at  Belmont,  which  Mr.  Ralston  gave  us, 
or  our  beautiful  steam-yacht  excursion  around  the  harbor  and  bay. 


CIVILIZATION^  OF   CALIFORmA. 


27 


General  Scofield,  late  Secretary  of  "War,  now  at  tlie  liead  of  this 
department,  and  Admiral  Winslow,  the  hero  of  the  Kearsarge, 
commandmg  the  Pacific  squadron  here,  have  entertained  us  gener- 
ously. These  and  other  hospitalities,  all  crowded  into  one  short 
week,  closed  last  night  with  a  ball  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Avery. 

What  caprices  have  marked  the  civilization  of  California  ! 
Wrested  from  the  native  Indians,  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago, 
to  enlarge  the  dominion  of  Spain  ;  parcelled  fifty  years  afterward, 
in  large  tracts,  among  bookish  priests  devoted  to  the  conversion 
of  the    dispossessed  proprietors — hardly   had  the  cathedrals  and 


CUFF  HOUSE,   SAN  FEANriSCO. 


schools  been  established,  when  revolution  tore  the  territory  from 
the  hold  of  Spain,  and  the  Eepublic  of  Mexico  confiscated  and 
seized  the  entire  domain.  Then  came  purchase,  conquest,  and 
rapid  colonization,  by  the  United  States.  These  have  left,  with  few 
exceptions,  neither  Mexican  proprietors  to  occupy,  nor  Spanish 
priests  to  teach,  nor  Indians  to  be  taught.  The  Catholic  churches 
were  founded  chiefly  in  1776-78.     How  little  did  their  builders 


28  UNITED   STATES,    CANADA,   AND   PACIFIC  OCEAN. 

understand  tlie  miglity  revolution  that  had  just  then  broken  out 
on  the  other  side  of  the  continent — a  revohition  that  was  destined 
to  modify  not  only  the  civil  but  also  the  ecclesiastical  systems  of  the 
earth ! 

San  Francisco,  though  only  twenty  years  old,  already  assumes 
the  aspect,  tone,  and  manners  of  an  inter-contiuental  emporium,  a 
counterpart  to  the  Atlantic  metropolis. 

The  absorbing  topic  here  is,  Chinese  immigration.  Mr.  Seward 
has  declined  an  invitation  given  him  by  the  anti-Chinese  party  to 
explore  the  Chinese  quarter,  and  see  how  unfit  its  inhabitants  are 
to  become  citizens  of  the  United  States ;  and  also  a  like  invitation 
from  the  Chinese  settlers  to  make  the  same  exploration,  to  see  how 
harmless  and  profitable  that  colonization  is.  The  Kepublican  party 
have  lately  acquiesced  in  the  policy  of  exclusion,  which  has  been 
insisted  upon  so  long  and  so  strenuously  by  the  Democratic  party. 
Mr.  Seward  protests  firmly  against  this,  and  teaches  that  immigra- 
tion and  expansion  are  the  main  and  inseparable  elements  of  civili- 
zation on  the  American  Continent,  and  nowhere  more  needful  or 
beneficent  than  on  the  Pacific  coast.  He  says  confidently,  to  both 
parties,  that  all  attempts  will  fail  to  suppress  or  stifle  cither  of  those 
invigorating  forces. 


GOLDKN  GATE. 


CHAPTER  11. 

FROM  SAN  FRANCISCO    TO  JAPAN. 

The  Vessels  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Line. — Our  Fellow-Passengers. — "  The  Great  Company 
of  the  Preachers." — The  Chinese  Passengers. — The  Great  Event  of  the  Voyage. — 
The  Moods  of  the  Sea. — A  Still  Greater  Event. — The  Loss  of  a  Day. — The  Gyas- 
cutus. — The  Beginning  of  the  End. — The  Coast  of  Japan. — The  Ocean-Fisheries. 

Steamer  China^  Pacifio  Ocean,  September  1,  1870. — Our  party 
having  received  its  promised  accessions,  we  embarked  at  noon. 
More  kind  friends  could  not  have  come  on  board  to  take  leave  if 
we  had  been  long  residents  of  San  Francisco.  If  Mr.  Seward  had 
been  thirty  years  younger,  such  a  parting  would  even  then  have 
taxed  his  strength. 

We  passed  the  sometimes  turbulent,  but  always  majestic  Golden 
Gate,  with  scarcely  a  disturbance  of  the  ship's  balance,  and  began 
our  voyage  on  a  calm  sea  and  under  a  bright  sky. 

September  Uh. — The  vessels  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Line  are  side- 
wheel  steamers,  and  in  accommodations  and  appointments  are  sur- 
passed only  by  the  palatial  boats  on  the  Hudson  Piver  and  Long 
Island  Sound.  The  China,  four  thousand  three  hundred  tons  bur- 
den, is  the  smallest  of  them  all.  We  enjoy  an  uninterrupted 
promenade  seven  hundred  feet  in  circuit  on  the  upper  deck.  We 
have  sixty  cabin-passengers,  and  might  carry  comfortably  twice 
that  number.  Among  them  are  General  Ylangally,  the  Russian 
Minister  returning  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Peking,  and  half  a 
dozen  English  civil  officers  coming  from  "  home  "  to  their  posts  in 
Japan  and  China.  "  Great,"  it  must  be  confessed,  "  is  the  com- 
pany of  the  preachers  :"  Fifteen  American  missionaries  with  their 


30  UNITED   STATES,   CANADA,   AND   PACIFIC   OCEAN. 

wives  and  children ! — the  elder  families  returning,  and  the  younger 
going  for  the  first  time  to  fields  of  labor  in  Japan,  China,  Siam, 
and  India  ;  United  States  naval  officers,  on  their  way  to  join  the 
Asiatic  squadron,  four  English  and  as  many  American  youths  just 
emero-ed  from  college  on  an  Eastern  tour ;  a  United  States  Treas- 
ury agent,  going  to  inspect  the  Oriental  consulates  ;  and  one  Amer- 
ican oflice-seeker,  at  least,  proceeding  to  lay  his  claims  before  the 
Emperor  of  China  at  Peking.  The  gentlemen  amuse  themselves 
with  gymnastic  games,  the  ladies  with  music  and  books.  An  ex- 
pert Japanese  juggler  entertains  us  in  the  cabin.  In  the  steerage, 
are  five  hundred  Chinese  returning  home.  They  pay  less  than  half 
price,  and  are  fed  with  the  simple  fare  of  their  country.  Knowing 
no  use  of  beds,  they  sleep  on  the  floor.  In  the  middle  of  their 
cabin  they  have  made,  with  canvas,  a  dark  room  for  opium-smoking. 
"When  on  deck,  they  appear  neatly  clad,  and  amuse  themselves  with 
unintelligible  and  apparently  interminable  games  of  chance.  The 
annual  immigration  of  Chinese  to  the  United  States  is  twelve  thou- 
sand. They  are  invariably  successful.  Half  the  number  go  back 
to  China,  either  on  visits  or  to  remain.  Our  freights  consist  of 
Mexican  silver  dollars,  manufactured  goods,  agricultural  machines, 
carriages,  furniture,  flour,  butter,  fruits,  drugs,  and  patent  medicines. 
These  go  in  exchange  for  teas,  silks,  rice,  and  Chinese  emigrants. 

Sejytem'ber  Gth. — The  great  event  of  the  voyage  occurred  this 
morning.  All  were  on  deck,  in  a  state  of  pleasant  excitement. 
At  seven  o'clock,  precisely  the  hour  which  the  captain  had  fore- 
told, the  ship  America,  eighteen  days  from  Yokohama,  appeared 
in  a  direct  line  before  us,  under  full  pressure,  and  with  square 
sails  set.  Signals  were  promptly  exchanged,  and,  to  avoid  colli- 
sion, each  ship  turned  slightly  from  its  course  and  stopped.  The 
America  has  eighty  cabin-passengers  and  four  hundred  Chinese. 
The  cabin-passengers  on  either  vessel  cheered  loudly,  the  Chinese 
looking  on  silent  and  thoughtful.  A  well-manned  gig,  with  an 
officer  in  the  stern,  came  bounding  over  the  waves,  and  deliv- 
ered to  us  Chinese  and  Japanese  (European)  newspapers,  with  a 
bag  of  letters  from  her  passengers.     We,  in  return  sent  on  board 


THE  GEEAT  EVENT  OF  THE  VOYAGE. 


31 


the  latest  American  newspapers,  and  a  mail  well  charged  with 
letters  to  our  friends  at  home.  The  America's  boat  was  then 
hoisted  to  its  davits,  the  walking-beams  of  the  two  giant  ships 


WEETrNG   OF   THE   STEAMERS   IN'    lirD-OClTAN. 


gracefully  bowed  to  each  other,  the  wheels  gently  revolved,  the 
passengers  repeated  their  cheers,  and  a  gun  from  either  deck  an- 
nounced that  the  meeting  was  over.  Each  vessel  resumed  its 
course,  and  in  a  few  moments  not  even  a  spy- glass  could  discover 
the  waving  of  handkerchiefs  or  other  signal  on  the  deck  of  the 
America.* 

If  we  gave  to  the  eastern -bound  travellers  the  first  news  of  the 
European  war,  and  of  the  death  of  Admiral  Farragut,  they  in  ex- 
change gave  us  intelligence  of  an  expected  war  between  the  Euro- 
pean powers  and  the  Chinese  Government,  in  consequence  of  the 
recent  dreadful  massacre  at  Tien-Tsin.  Every  one  is  astonished 
that  Mr.  Seward  persists  in  his  purpose  of  visiting  Peking.  He 
says  that  France,  in  her  present  disabled  condition,  cannot  make 
war  against  Cliina,  and,  without  the  lead  of  France,  no  "Western 
nation  will. 

*  The  telegraph  from  Shanghai  reports  that  the  America  was  burned  in  the  haibor 
of  Yokohama,  August  25,  1872. 


32  UNITED   STATES,    CAis^ADA,   AND   PACIFIC   OCEAK 

Sejytemher  14:th. — Those  vcho  would  know  tlio  sea,  have  need  to 
study  its  varying  moods  and  aspects.  They  must  see  it  in  the  later 
hours  of  cloudless  night,  when  it  reflects  the  bright  stars  and  con- 
stellations ;  they  must  see  it  in  the  morning  twilight,  when  its 
broad  surface  seems  contracted  to  a  small,  dark  lake,  and  then  un- 
der the  illumination  of  the  dawn  it  resumes  its  illimitable  expanse. 
Doubtless  it  is  terrible  in  its  more  serious  moods  by  reason  of  its 
vastness,  darkness,  and  powerful  agitation,  all  elements  of  the  sub- 
lime.    Happily  for  us,  we  have  not  yet  witnessed  those  moods. 

Septeniber  IQtJi. — It  was  a  mistake  to  pronounce  our  meeting 
with  the  America,  on  the  Gth,  the  event  of  the  voyage.  A 
greater  one  has  just  occurred.  Our  last  date  is  the  14th.  This 
note  is  written  on  the  IGtli.  The  former  entry  certainly  was 
made  yesterday.  The  chronometer  marked  eight  o'clock  at 
night  at  Greenwich,  at  the  very  hour  when  our  clock,  which 
keeps  the  running  time,  marked  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning.  We 
are  half-way  around  the  world  from  Greenwich,  and  have  lost  just 
half  a  day.  It  is  quite  clear  that,  if  we  should  continue  onward 
making  the  same  discrepancy  of  time,  we  should  have  lost  a  whole 
day  on  arriving  at  Greenwich.  We  might  postpone  the  readjust- 
ment of  our  ship's  time  until  we  reached  Greenwich,  but  the 
scientific  world  has  wisely  decided  that  this  readjustment  shall 
be  made  in  every  case  by  compromise  on  the  180th  meridian,  and 
therefore,  instead  of  striking  out  a  half-day  here,  we  strike  out  a 
whole  one. 

If  the  absolute  loss  of  one  whole  day  out  of  our  lives  is  a  dis- 
tressing thing  to  think  of,  we  may  console  ourselves  with  Eed 
Jacket's  profound  reflection.  When  a  missionary  had  delivered  be- 
fore the  Seneca  nation,  in  council,  a  homily  in  the  usual  style  on 
the  shortness  of  life,  and  the  necessity  of  improving  its  fleeting 
hours,  he  called  on  them  for  an  expression  of  their  sentiments  on 
that  important  subject ;  Red  Jacket,  having  duly  consulted  with 
the  chiefs,  head  men,  women,  and  warriors,  responded  in  their  be- 
half: "Ked  men  have  all  the  time  there  is  going;  they  do  not 
see  that  white  men  have  any  more." 


THE    COAST   OF  JAPAN.  33 

SepUmher  20^A. — Four  tliousand  miles  from  San  Francisco. 
The  sea  has  come  down  from  the  long,  surging  swell  of  a  few  days 
past,  and  is  now  smooth  and  glassy.  We  have  entered  the  outer 
belt  of  the  hot  circular  current  which  warms  the  coasts  of  Japan, 
Siberia,  and  Alaska. 

A  brig  under  full  sail  is  seen,  though  at  a  great  distance,  mov- 
ing eastward.  Everybody  tries  the  spy-glass  to  make  her  out. 
When  all  have  failed,  a  passenger,  noted  for  controversialism,  pro- 
nounces that  the  brio-  is  the  Gvascutiis,  from  Macao,  bound  for 
Valparaiso,  freighted  with  coolies.  We  all  start  at  once,  and  ask, 
"How  do  you  know?"  "I  assert  it  to  be  the  fact,"  he  replies; 
"let  him  prove  the  contrary  who  can.  If  this  is  not  sufficient 
proof,  it  is  at  least  the  same  form  of  argument  that  our  preacher 
used  in  his  sermon  last  night." 

Sej>tember  2o(l. — The  beginning  of  the  end !  Every  incli  of  the 
deck,  bulwarks,  stanchions,  rigging,  and  boats,  has  been  scoured, 
tarred,  or  painted,  and  the  whole  ship  is  clean  as  a  Shaker  meeting- 
house. Our  five  hundred  steerage-passengers  are  confined  within 
a  rope-enclosure  on  the  forward-deck — they  appearing  in  new  and 
shining  cotton  clothes,  with  pates  freshly  shaven.  A  dozen  women 
are  seen  for  the  first  time.  All  are  engaged,  especially  the  women, 
in  dropping  kandfuls  of  rice  and  small  pieces  of  colored  paper  into 
the  sea,  to  propitiate  the  gods  for  a  safe  arrival.  Flying-fish  sur- 
round ns ;  one  white-breasted  gull  has  come  to  attend  ns  into  port ; 
and  a  whale,  the  only  one  we  have  seen  on  the  voyage,  is  spouting 
in  the  distance. 

SejJtember  24^A. — The  coast  of  Japan  rises  in  a  long,  gray  outline 
over  the  dark  sea,  but  Fusi  Yama  veils  his  head,  and  refuses  to  take 
notice  of  our  coming. 

We  have  crossed  the  Pacific  Ocean.  How  much  it  is  to  be  re- 
gretted that  we  must  make  such  long  stretches,  and  yet  see  so  little  ! 
How  profitable  it  would  be  to  study  the  JSTorth-Pacific  American 
coast,  the  shores  of  Puget  Sound,  the  Territories  on  the  Columbia 
River,  and  Alaska,  in  a  near  future  the  great  fishery,  forest,  and 

4 


34 


UNITED   STATES,    CANADA,  AND   PACIFIC   OCEAN. 


mineral  storehouses  of  the  world ! — the  Aleutian  chain  of  islands 
hereafter  to  be  the  stepping-stones  between  the  two  continents. 
We  have  lost  a  sight,  also,  not  onlj  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  but 
of  Australia,  a  lifth  continent  on  which  a  kindred  people  are  dcvel- 


rUSI    YAMA,    COAST   OF   JAPAN. 


oping  a  state  that  miy  at  some  future  day  challenge  comparison 
with  our  own  republic. 

The  Northern  fisheries  known  in  commerce  are  chiefly  above 
the  31th  parallel.  The  United  States  and  Russia  own  more  than 
half  of  the  coast  on  both  sides  of  the  Pacific,  north  of  that  parallel. 
Mr.  Seward  left,  as  a  legacy  in  the  State  Department,  an  inchoate 
negotiation  of  a  treaty  for  reciprocity  in  those  fisheries.  Its  im- 
portance may  be  estimated  by  recalling  the  controversies  and  con- 
flicts between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  during  the  last 
hundred  years,  which  have  arisen  out  of  the  fisheries  on  the  Atlan- 
tic coast. 


PART  II. 

JAPAN,  CHINA,  AND  COCHIN  CHINA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

YOKOHAMA   AND  ITS   VICINITY. 

The  Bay  of  Yokohama. — Natives  and  Foreigners. — Native  Costumes. — Japanese  Bar- 
bers.— The  Tokaido. — Japanese  Cemetei-ies,  Gardens,  and  Temples. — Monks  and 
Monasteries.— Kamakura. — The  Great  Statue  of  Buddha. — The  Daibutz. 

Yokohama,  Septemher  2oth. — Night  closed  with  more  than 
moonless  darkness.  With  a  true  seaman's  solicitude  for  the  good 
name  of  his  ship,  Captain  Freeman  still  promised  that  we  should 
anchor  before  midnight.  Who  could  think  of  sleeping  when  the 
lights  of  our  first  Asiatic  port  were  so  near  ?  We  walked  the  deck 
around  and  around,  from  stem  to  stern ;  we  tried  whist,  we  drew 
uncounted  symphonies  from  the  piano — but  no  consolation.  The 
ship  scarcely  moved,  and  the  equinoctial  24:th  day  of  September 
became  the  longest  of  all  the  days  in  the  year.  Time  lagged  more 
and  more  tediously  between  the  hours  of  eleven  and  twelve.  At 
last  we  gave  it  up,  and  went  to  rest.  We  were  wakened  by  the 
ship's  gun,  and  the  slow  dropping  of  the  anchor.  The  morning 
brought  an  explanation.  The  ship's  clock  had  been  retarded,  and 
did  not  announce  the  hour  of  twelve  until  the  chronometer  marked 
half-past  two. 

The  bay  of  Yokohama  is  as  spacious,  and  its  surroundings  are 
as  beautiful,  as  those  of  Hampton  Roads.  The  landscape  recedes 
gracefully  from  the  shore,  and  high  above  the  beautiful  scene  Fusi 
Yama's  sacred  brow  reflects  the  glowing  smile  of  the  morning  sun. 
The  hills  and  valleys  wear  all  the  freshness  of  spring.  It  is  Sun- 
day ;  the  harbor  is  gay  with  the  flags  of  many  nations  on  men-of- 


o 


8  JAPAX,    CniXA,    AXD   COCHIN   CHINA. 


war  and  mercliant-sliips,  and  is  made  more  animated  by  the  quaint 
Japanese  craft  and  their  shouting,  grotesque,  native  managers. 

Yokohama^  Septeniber  26^/i. — The  United  States  minister,  Mr. 
De  Long,  Captain  McCrea,  of  the  Asiatic  squadron,  Mr.  Shepard 
the  consul  at  Yeddo,  Mr.  Walsh,  and  other  American  citizens,  came 
on  board,  and  after  kind  expressions  of  welcome  and  congratulation 
conducted  us  to  Mr,  "Walsh's  residence. 

Captain  McCrea  received  Mr.  Seward  and  his  friends  with  na- 
tional honors  on  board  the  United  States  steamship-of-war  Monocacy. 

Accustomed  at  home  to  the  intermingling  of  all  classes,  condi- 
tions, and  races,  in  subjection  to  one  system  of  laws  and  tribunals, 
with  common  standards  of  morals  and  manners,  we  are  as  vet  un- 
prepared  for  the  different  constitution  of  society  we  find  here : 
instead  of  one  community,  two,  standing  side  by  side,  each  inde- 
pendent of  the  other — the  one  native,  the  other  foreign. 

The  native  population  of  Japan  is  forty  millions,  all  of  the  Mongo- 
lian type ;  *  the  so-called  European  population,  five  thousand,  tempo- 
rarily residing  here  from  various  nations,  including  the  United  States. 
These  foreigners  are  gathered  upon  tracts  of  land,  one,  three  or  six 
miles  square,  called  concessions,  adjacent  to  native  cities  in  the  chief 
j)orts  of  this  maritime  empire.  These  foreign  settlements  are  cor- 
porations, regulated  and  protected  by  the  several  foreign  nations,  and 
are  copied  in  all  respects  from  Western  models,  while  the  unpaved 
native  cities,  built  of  firs  and  cedars,  thatched  with  bamboo  and  cane, 
are  as  perfectly  Japanese  as  if  a  European  had  never  touched  the  coast. 

It  may  be  conceived  that  it  is  difiicult  for  the  transient  traveller, 
who  always  sojourns  among  his  countrymen,  and  speaks  with  the 
natives  only  through  an  intei^preter,  to  study  Japan  or  its  people. 
The  Japanese,  however  they  may  have  been  heretofore,  are  not  now 
jealous  or  suspicious.  They  labor  cheerfully  on  the  wharves,  serve 
faithfully  in  foreign  families  within  the  concessions,  and  manufac- 
ture, in  their  own  districts,  articles  of  furniture  and  fancy  goods  for 
foreign  markets.     They  are  polite,  sagacious,  and  skilful  traders. 

*  The  Prime-Miiiister  informs  Mr.  Seward  that  the  census  recently  taken  gave  thirty- 
five  (35)  millions,  but  that  it  was  erroneous.   He  estimates  the  population  at  fifty  millions. 


< 
< 


< 

o 
o 


NATIVE  COSTUMES. 


39 


September  ^''iih. — The  representations  of  native  costumes  on  the 
Japanese  porcelain  and  lacquer-work,  which  are  found  on  our  tables 
and  in  our  parlors  at  home,  are  not  less  accurate  than  spirited. 
The  coarse,  black  hair  is  a  chief  object  of  pride  and  care.     The 


JAPAITESE   BABBEBS. 


barber  with  his  scissors,  combs,  razors,  and  pomatum,  is  seen  at  all 
hours  of  the  day  in  the  most  public  places.     The  women  brush  the 


40 


JAPAX,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 


hair  away  from  the  temples  a  la  Pompadour,  and  gather  it  up  under 
a  small  smooth  puff  at  the  back  of  the  head  with  gilt  and  vermilion 
pins.  The  hair  of  the  men  is  shorn  entirely  oft'  the  crown,  leaving 
enough  at  the  sides  and  back  to  be  drawn  upward  and  fastened 
in  a  graceless  and  meaningless  knot.  The  effect  is  simply  shock- 
ing. The  barber-work  being  performed  only  three  times  a  week, 
care  is  taken  to  present  disarrangement  in  the  intervals.  They 
use,  instead  of  a  pillow,  a  wooden  block  adjusted  to  the  shape  of  the 
neck.  The  pomatum  so  lavislily  applied  is  extracted  from  an  herb, 
which,  growing  in  the  eaves  of  the  houses,  makes  a  pretty  green 
fringe  for  the  brown  thatched  roofs.  They  say  that  one  of  the  em- 
perors, for  sumptuary  reasons,  forbade  the  cultivation  of  this  plant 
in  the  fields.  Thus  the  people,  while  evading  the  law,  beautify 
their  dwellings. 

Here,  as  in  Alaska  and  in  ancient  Mexico,  civil  economy  re- 


•'Mi 


JAPANESE  GIEI.8. 


quires  that  the  married  and  unmarried  women  shall  wear  distin- 
guishing badges.  The  girl,  with  full  hair  tastefully  arranged,  with 
white  teeth,  and  with  the  free  use  of  cosmetics,  and  a  scrupulously 
modest  costume,  is  attractive ;  when  married,  her  eyebrows  are 
immediately  shaven  off,  her  teeth  are  stained  jet-black,  the  orna- 
ments are  removed  from  her  hair,  and  she  becomes  repulsive. 


JAPANESE   CEMETEEIES. 


41 


"Wherever  a  city  of  the  living  is,  there  is  also  a  greater  city  of 
the  dead.     The  Japanese  bury  on  the  hill-sides.     Though  cremation 


JAPANESE  CEMETEET. 


is  sometimes  practised,  the  body  is  more  generally  interred  in  a 
sitting  posture,  cramped  within  a  plain,  white,  square  box,  borne  to 
the  grave  on  men's  shoulders.  All  who  attend,  wear  white  mourn- 
ing-badges. Women  do  not  appear  in  the  processions.  Burial  is 
without  pomp  and  pageantry.  A  black  or  gray  stone  obelisk  is 
raised  over  the  grave. 

All  the  cemeteries  are  crowded,  but  doubtless  this  is  due  to  the 
economy  of  land  required  by  so  dense  a  population.  They  are, 
however,  always  shaded  and  green. 


42  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

Septeinber  2Sth. — We  made  an  excursion,  by  boat,  to-day,  on 
the  bay  of  Yeddo,  to  Ivanagawa,  and  its  precincts.  The  Tokaido, 
the  high-road  which  traverses  the  island  of  iSTiphon,  passes  through 
the  town.  A  crowd  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages  gathered  and  stared 
at  our  landing.  The  architecture  of  Japanese  towns  and  villages 
is  monotonous.  The  buildings,  public  and  private,  are  small  and 
huddled  together.  It  was  a  pleasing  surprise  to  find  the  railroad 
to  Yeddo  in  process  of  construction.  It  is  undertaken  by  a  native 
company,  using  only  Japanese  capital,  credit,  and  labor.  By-the- 
way,  the  projectors  are  becoming  timid  in  prosecuting  the  work, 
under  an  apprehension  that,  when  it  shall  be  completed,  foreigners 
will  base  extortionate  claims  on  any  accidental  injuries  they  may 
sufier. 

Ascending  a  high  hill,  just  beyond  the  town  of  Kanagawa,  we 
enjoyed  our  first  interior  view  of  Japanese  rural  scenery-.  Thence- 
forward we  had  a  path  only  five  or  six  feet  wide,  which  winds 
across  the  plains  and  around  the  hill-sides,  not  on  any  principle  of 
road-making,  but  simply  for  the  convenient  use  of  the  soil.  The 
hill-tops  are  covered  with  majestic  cypresses  and  yew-trees,  inter- 
mingled with  the  chestnut,  holly,  pine,  persimmon,  and  camphor. 
At  their  bases  are  thick  groves  of  the  slender  bamboo,  which,  be- 
sides being  highly  ornamental,  is  the  most  variously  useful  of  all 
the  woods  in  the  East. 

The  althea,  the  lily,  the  japonica,  the  arbor-vitae,  the  wisteria, 
the  passion-flower,  and  many  other  shrubs  and  creepers,  which  re- 
quii-e  so  much  care  and  labor  in  our  gardens  and  greenhouses,  are 
luxuriant  here.  There  is  no  waste,  either  by  rock,  marsh,  or  juu- 
gle ;  every  hill  is  terraced,  every  acre  irrigated,  every  square  foot 
of  land  covered  by  some  tree,  cereal,  or  esculent.  Instead  of  farms, 
there  are  small  plots,  and  each  is  tilled  with  cotton,  flax,  wheat, 
barley,  sugar,  beets,  peppers,  sweet-potatoes,  cabbages,  turnips,  and 
other  vegetables,  by  a  single  family,  with  care  equal  to  that  which 
is  bestowed  on  our  flower-beds.  'No  allowance  is  made  for  even 
accidental  waste  of  the  crop.  The  individual  wheat-stalk  which  is 
bent  down  by  the  storm  is  restored  and  supported.  Each  head  of 
rice,  each  particular  boll  of  cotton,  is  kept  in  its  place  until  care- 


A    JAPANESE    GARDEN. 


MOXKS   AND   MOXASTERIES.  4.3 

fiillj  removed  by  tbe  husbandman's  band.  Tliere  is  no  loss  of 
time  in  gathering  the  crops  into  garners ;  as  fast  as  the  product 
ripens,  it  is  harvested  and  immediately  prepared  for  the  market. 
Despotism,  though  often  cruel,  is  not  always  blind.  A  law  of  the 
empire  obliges  every  one  who  fells  a  tree  to  plant  another.  In 
the  midst  of  this  rich  and  beautiful  landscape,  within  an  enclosure 
of  two  hundred  acres,  stands  a  Buddhist  temple,  with  an  adjoining 
monastery,  surrounded  by  groves  such  as  Downing  might  have 
designed.  "We  came  upon  the  base  of  the  temple  by  successive 
flights  of  steps,  each  reaching  from  a  platform  below  to  a  more  con- 
tracted one  above.  The  edifices  are  constructed  of  wood,  which  is 
generally  used  in  Japan,  for  greater  security  against  earthquakes. 

The  temple  has  an  overhanging  roof  and  portico,  which  are 
unique  and  graceful.  The  columns,  architraves  and  cornices  are 
elaborately,  though  grotesquely  carved.  The  bonzes  received  and 
conducted  us  through  the  sacred  edifices  with  ceremonious  polite- 
ness, requiring  us  to  leave  our  boots  at  the  door,  not  as  a  re- 
ligious, observance,  but  as  a  regulation  of  domestic  economy.  These 
priests  are  vowed  to  celibacy  and  temperance,  and  in  their  ton- 
sure and  habit  they  resemble  Carmelite  friars,  except  that  their 
spotless  white  raiment  is  not  of  wool,  but  of  soft  silk.  The  monas- 
tery is  divided  into  numerous  apartments  by  sliding  paper  doors, 
but  all  these  were  thrown  open  to  us.  A  fine,  clean  bamboo  mat, 
two  inches  thick,  is  spread  on  every  floor,  and  serves  for  "  bed  and 
board."  There  is  no  other  furniture.  While  we  were  enjoying 
our  collation  in  one  apartment,, the  bonzes  were  taking  tea  and 
smoking  in  the  next  one.  Each  bonze,  before  lifting  his  teacup  or 
bringing  his  pipe  to  his  lips,  brought  his  head  half  a  dozen  times 
to  the  floor  by  way  of  compliment  to  his  several  companions.  We 
inferred  that  some  of  the  party  were  pilgrims,  enjoying  the  hospitali- 
ties of  the  house.  The  temple  is  a  square  enclosure,  with  an  open 
corridor  on  every  side.  Nearly  the  whole  floor  is  covered  with  a 
dais,  in  the  centre  of  which  is  a  large  altar,  with  a  smaller  one  on 
either  side.  Over  each  a  carved  image — the  middle  one,  Buddha  ; 
on  his  right,  the  mythological  mikado,  on  the  left  an  apostle  or 
lawgiver.     Xo  space  is  allowed  for  worshippers.     They  prostrate 


44 


JAPAN,    CHINA,  AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 


themselves  at  the  porch,  and  are  content  with  throwing  small  coins 
into  the  treasury  just  within  the  door.  A  cemetery  near  the  tem- 
ple is  crowded  with  monuments  of  pilgrim  princes  and  saints. 
Take  away  from  this  temple  its  pagan  devices  and  emblems,  and 
the  whole  place  would  seem  to  be  pervaded  with  the  very  spirit  of 
religious  devotion.  It  combines  seclusion,  repose,  and  silence  with 
solemnity.  The  good  monks  dismissed  us  with  many  blessings, 
after  having  obtained  Mr.  Seward's  leave  to  visit  him  at  Yokohama. 
On  our  return,  we  found  the  bay  highly  agitated.  Discarding  the 
life-boats  of  the  Monocacy,  we  crossed  in  a  native  craft,  rowed  by 
a  vigilant  and  active  though  excited  and  vehement  crew. 

Septeniber  SOth. — A  second  excursion,  this  time  overland  to 
Kanagawa,  southward  on  the  Tokaido.  A  hundred  years  ago,  no 
part  of  the  United  States,  perhaps  few  countries  in  Europe,  afforded 
a  road  equal  to  this  in  firmness  and  smoothness.     At  intervals,  hot 


TEA-HOUSE   ON   THE   TOliAIDO. 


tea  in  tiny  cups,  with  cakes  and  sugar-plums,  was  brought  out  to  us 
by  pretty  girls,  artistes  in  dance  and  song.  The  beverage  might  not 
be  declined,  though  we  were  not  allowed  to  pay  for  it.  In  many 
places  we  found  circular  benches  arranged  under  trees  five  hundred 


GROUP   OX   THE   TOKAIDO, 


45 


years  old.  This  frequent  provision  for  rest  and  refreshment  is  due 
to  the  circumstance  that  travel  in  Japan  is  principally  performed  by 
pedestrians,  with  the  occasional  use  of  chairs.  Daimios  have  always 
used  horses,  and  recently  foreigners  have  introduced  vehicles. 


■^}J. 


GEOITP   OX   THE   TOKAIDO. 


Tlie  Japanese  are  a  busy  as  well  as  a  frugal  people.  Thickly- 
clustering  houses,  booths,  and  work-shops  nearly  close  the  road 
on  either  side,  making  it  difficult  to  distinguish  where  a  rural 
district  begins  or  ends.     Occasionally  a  vacant  space  opens  a  beau- 


46 


JAPAN,    CJimA,  AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 


tiful  vista.  At  the  end  of  twenty  miles  we  sent  our  carriages  back 
to  Yokohama,  and  proceeded  in  chairs  by  a  narrow  path  over  a 
lofty  hill,  and  then  came  down  on  the  ocean-beach.  The  feet  of 
our  coolie  bearers  sank  deep  in  the  sand,  but  we  enjoyed  the  re- 
freshing spray  which  dashed  in  our  faces.  Then  leaving  the  shore, 
and  following  a  rugged  mountain-path,  we  came  upon  a  high  plain, 
where  once  stood  the  renowned  ecclesiastical  capital,  Kamakura. 
Practically  speaking,  Japan  has  no  ruins.     An  extensive  and  hand- 


TEMPLE   AT   KiMAliUltA. 


some  temple,  which  still  maintains  its  prestige,  is  the  only  monu- 
ment of  the  ancient  city.  A  few  miles  beyond  this  temple,  we  left 
our  chairs,  and,  diverging  from  the  road,  we  confronted  a  high 
wooden  arch,  fantastically  painted  with  bright  green,  blue  and  yel- 
low colors.  On  either  side  of  the  arch  is  a  carved  bronze  demon, 
fifteen  feet  high,  protected  by  an  iron  railing.  These  figures,  de- 
signed to  be  terrific,  are  simply  hideous.  •  They  are  plastered  over 
with  moistened  paper  pellets,  which  have  been  cast  on  them  by  pass- 
ing pilgrims.     The  adhesion  of  the  pellet  is  taken  as  an  assurance 


THE   GREAT  STATUE   OF   BCDDIIA. 


4.7 


that  the  monster  is  appeased,  and  consents  to  the  visit  of  a  votary. 
Trusting  that  the  missiles  which  our  bearers  had  thrown  upon 
the  demons  had  propitiated  them  in  our  favor,  we  boldlv  en- 
tered the  gate.  Ascending  a  solid  flight  of  steps,  we  reached  a 
paved  court,  three  sides  of  which  are  graced  with  monumental 
shrines  of  stone  and  bronze.  On  a  pedestal  six  feet  high,  in  the 
centre  of  the  square,  is  the  gigantic  statue  of  Buddha  (famous  as 
the  Daibutz),  sitting  with  crossed  legs,  on  a  lotus-flower.  Though 
description  bv  measurement  is  not  poetical,  we  must  use  it  to  con- 
vey an  idea  of  this  colossal  idol.     It  is  fifty  feet  high,  a  hundred 


DAIBUTZ. 


6  s 


feet  in  circumference  at  the  base,  and  the  head  is  nine  feet  long 
the  hands  are  brought  together  in  front,  with  thumbs  joined ;  the 
head  is  covered  with  metallic  snails,  M'hich  are  supposed  to  protect 
the  god  from  the  sun.     Some  travellers  find  in  the  face  an  expres- 


48 


JAPAN,   CIIIXA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 


sion  of  sublime  contemplation  ;  to  us  it  seems  dull  and  meaning- 
less. The  statue  being  made  of  bronze  plates,  is  hollow;  the 
interior  is  shaped  and  fitted  as  a  temj^le.  "We  are  inclined  to  be- 
lieve that  the  Japanese  have  lost  their  early  reverence  for  the 
Daibutz  ;  we  find  the  walls  covered  with  the  autographs  of  pilgrims 
and  travellers.  The  bonzes  invited  us  to  register  our  o^vn  names, 
and  they  off'er  to  sell  the  god  to  any  purchaser  for  the  price  of  old 
copper. 


J^APASESE   BONZES. 


CHAPTER  II. 

VISIT   TO    YEDDO.—IXTERVIEW   WITH  THE  MIKADO. 

Interview  with  the  Japanese  Prime-Minister. — Tremendous  Storm. — Some  Points  of 
History. — The  Mikado  and  the  Tycoon. — Japanese  Foreign  Office. — Minister  Sawa. 
— The  Question  of  Saghalien. — The  Tombs  of  the  Tycoons. — A  Speciv  of  \^'ar. — The 
Delmonico  of  Yeddo. — Slietches  of  Yeddo. — The  Interview  with  the  Mikado. 

On  hoard  the  Monocacy,  Bay  of  Yeddo,  October  1st. — On  Mr. 
Seward's  arrival  at  Yokohama,  the  Japanese  Government  at  Yeddo 
invited  him  to  a  banquet  in  the  pah^ce  of  the  Hamagoteu.  The 
Japanese  ministry,  with  other  official  persons.  In  all  six  hundred, 
were  to  be  present,  and  the  prime-minister  was  to  preside.  Mr. 
Seward  excused  himself  on  the  ground  that  the  condition  of  his 
health  and  his  habits  oblige  him  to  forego  large  assemblies.  He 
wrote,  at  the  same  time,  that  he  intended  visiting  the  capital  in  a 
private  manner,  and  that  it  would  aiford  him  pleasure  if  allowed  to 
pay  his  respects  to  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  This  morn- 
ing, we  set  out  on  the  excursion  thus  proposed,  in  the  Monocacy, 
accomj)anied  by  Mr.  De  Long ;  we  arrived  at  the  anchorage  before 
Yeddo,  at  five  o'clock,  expecting  to  land  immediately,  under  the 
ship's  salute. 

Since  our  arrival  at  Yokohama  the  weather  has  been  intensely 
hot,  and  everybody  has  been  predicting  some  fearful  convulsion  of 
earthquake  or  tempest.  A  wind  with  heavy  rain  gave  us  a  rough 
voyage;  but  the  sea  has  now  calmed,  though  the  rain  continues. 
Mr.  Seward,  protesting  against  delay,  asked  for  boats  when  the 
anchor  dropped.      The  ladies   shrank  from  exposure;    even   the 


50  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

United  States  minister  became  demoralized,  and  Mr.  Seward  was 
overruled ;  so  here  we  are,  lying  five  miles  from  Yeddo,  under  the 
guns  of  a  long  line  of  Japanese  forts,  built  on  shoals,  midway  be- 
tween our  anchorage  and  the  city.  The  naval  officers  are  to  give 
up  their  quarters  to  us  for  the  night,  in  expectation  of  a  calm  sea 
and  cloudless  sky  to-morrow ;  an  expectation  which  Mr.  Seward 
desires  it  to  be  distinctly  understood  he  does  not  share.  In  the 
mean  time  they  are  entertaining  us  with  music  and  conversation. 

Yeddo,  October  2J. — Mr.  Seward  was  right.  "We  retired  at 
eleven  o'clock,  to  the  very  narrow  "  regulation  berths,"  imprisoning 
ourselves  with  close  mosquito-nets,  in  the  smallest  of  state-rooms, 
looking  through  the  open  ports  at  a  very  silvery  moon,  bright  stars, 
and  a  smooth  sea,  the  ship  drawing  nine  feet  on  an  anchorage  of 
three  fathoms.  Between  us  and  the  forts,  the  harbor  was  covered 
with  vessels,  including  a  large  number  of  Japanese  steamers  and 
other  boats,  as  well  as  Chinese  junks.  Some  of  these  lay  quite  near 
to  us.  There  was  no  sleep.  At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  a  phos- 
phorescent wave,  pouring  through  the  open  ports,  deluged  our 
state-rooms.  At  this  juncture,  the  order  came  down  the  hatch- 
way, "  Close  the  ports."  The  steward  informed  us  that  there  was 
"something  of  a  high  sea."  "Wrapping  ourselves  in  our  now 
thoroughly-wetted  garments,  we  rushed  into  the  dark  cabin,  and 
there  overheard  low  conversation  on  the  deck,  which  expressed 
apprehension  of  a  fearful  storm. 

We  were  on  deck  at  break  of  day.  The  sky  wore  a  copper  hue ; 
the  air  grcAv  intensely  hot ;  the  barometer  fell  from  30°  50'  to  28° ; 
a  violent  wind  seemed  to  come  from  all  cpiarters,  and,  in  the  midst 
of  a  deluge  of  rain,  blew  the  sea  from  imderneath  the  ship,  causing 
her  continually  to  bound  and  rebound  on  the  sandy  bottom.  It 
was  the  typhoon  !  l!^evertheless,  we  remained  on  deck,  lashed  fast 
in  our  seats,  preferring  the  open  tempest  there  to  the  close  and 
nauseating  cabin.  The  captain  was  self-collected ;  he  ordered  the 
top-masts  down,  and  every  spar  well  secured.  Three  anchors,  the 
ship's  entire  ground-tackle,  were  thro^vn  out ;  every  vessel,  and 
every  other  Abject  on  sea  and  land,  now  disappeared  from  our  view. 


STORM  IX   THE   BAY.  51 

With  confused  fears  that  some  ship  might  be  driving  against  us,  or 
that  we  might  be  dragging  toward  a  lee-shore,  we  put  our  engines 
in  motion,  to  keep  the  Monocacy  up  to  her  anchors.  The  more 
juvenile  officers,  of  whom,  of  course  there  were  many,  enlivened  the 
dark  and  dreary  hours  by  whispered  accounts  of  all  the  ships  which 
had  been  wrecked,  or  escaped  wreck,  in  all  the  typhoons,  and  all 
the  tidal  waves,  and  all  the  earthquakes  that  have  raged  in  Asiatic 
waters,  or  in  any  other  seas,  within  the  memory  of  man. 

At  twelve  o'clock,  we  were  driven  from  the  deck  by  alarms  that 
the  guns  were  breaking  loose  from  their  fastenings,  that  the  bul- 
warks and  stanchions  were  giving  way,  and  the  bending  masts  and 
spars  would  crush  us.  We  took  refuge  once  more  in  the  cabin, 
uncertain  whether  the  ship  was  parting  her  anchors,  or  breaking 
to  pieces  in  her  berth.  All  the  hatchways  being  closed,  exclud- 
ing air  except  through  a  convoluted  funnel,  a  lethargy  came  over 
us,  which  made  some  helpless,  and  nearly  all  hopeless.  About  two 
o'clock,  an  officer,  anxiously  and  carefully  consulting  the  glass,  said 
in  a  low  voice,  "  It  is  rising,"  and,  after  a  few  seconds  more,  he  ex- 
claimed, "  It  is  the  end  ! "     And  so  it  was. 

In  half  an  hour  we  were  on  deck  again.  The  sky  was  bright, 
and  the  sea,  though  yet  rolling,  had  lost  its  violence.  Bat  the 
vessels  which  had  been  moored  in  such  dangerous  proximity  were 
no  longer  there.  The  lee-shore  was  so  near  that  we  wondered  at 
our  presumption  in  having  anchored  there.  At  five  o'clock,  a  full 
boat's  crew  manned  a  prize-gig,  and  with  bright  and  merry  oars 
rowed  us  around  the  forts  to  the  wharf  of  the  consulate  at  Yeddo. 
On  the  way  we  passed  a  crowded  steamer,  broken  directly  in  the 
middle,  and  hanging  across  the  rampart  of  the  upper  fort ;  while  a 
dozen  vessels  were  seen  half  out  of  water  in  the  shallow  and  treach- 
erous bay.  When  we  saw  the  broken  walls,  overturned  trees  and 
fallen  buildings  on  the  shore,  we  were  convinced  that  our  anchorage 
in  the  bav  was  tlie  safer  refuse,  notwithstanding*  all  its  terrors. 
The  Monocacy  had  neither  parted  a  rope  nor  started  a  nail,  while 
the  consulate  had  been  beaten  and  shattered  on  all  sides  and  in 
every  part. 

Sunset  came  on  ;  while  there  was  no  rainbow,  all  the  prismatic 


52  JAPAN,   CIIIJTA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

colors  and  hues  were  painted  on  the  broken  and  rolling  clouds,  as 
brilliantly  and  as  distinctly  as  they  are  ever  seen  in  the  "  arch  of 
promise  "  itself. 

With  what  grateful  emotions  did  we  reflect  that  the  tempest 
which  so  often  breaks  and  destroys  the  stanchest  of  ships  in  the 
Eastern  seas,  had  been  in  this  instance  withheld,  not  only  until  we 
had  crossed  the  great  ocean,  but  even  until  we  had  found  an  anchor- 
age from  which  we  had  beheld  the  terrific  phenomenon  without 
disaster ! 

Monday^  October  ?>d. — The  Monocacy  having  done  her  best  to 
rouse  the  sleepers  of  the  capital  by  a  salute  to  Mr.  Seward,  returned 
down  the  bay  to  Yokohama.  Thanks  to  her  brave  officers  and  no- 
ble crew,  with  earnest  wishes  for  their  health  and  promotion. 

The  damages  of  the  consulate  have  been  repaired  sufficiently 
for  our  comfortable  accommodation.  We  are  guests  of  the  minister 
and  the  consul.  At  an  early  hour  an  officer  came  from  the  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs,  to  learn  when  Mr.  Seward  would  make  his 
promised  visit.     He  appointed  ten  o'clock,  to-morrow. 

Before  we  go  to  the  foreign  office,  it  mny  be  well  to  recall 
some  points  of  history,  in  order  to  make  our  observations  on  Yeddo 
intellio-ible. 

The  people  of  Japan,  whether  indigenous  here  or  derived  from 
Siberia,  assumed  political  organization,  according  to  their  own 
records,  about  twenty-four  hundred  years  ago,  in  the  two  islands 
of  ISTiphon  and  Kiusiu.  They  were  governed  by  an  emperor,  who, 
being  descended  from  the  gods,  was  divine  and  absolute  on  earth, 
and  when  he  died  was  worshipped.  Not  only  was  his  person  too 
sacred  to  be  looked  upon  by  a  stranger,  but  even  the  sun  must  not 
shine  on  his  head.  It  was  sacrilegious  to  touch  the  dishes  from 
which  he  ate.  At  his  death,  his  twelve  wives  and  all  their  attend- 
ants committed  hari-hari.  These  attributes  are  still  popularly  con- 
ceded to  him.  As  vicegerent  of  Heaven,  he  wears  the  title  of 
Tenno ;  as  sovereign  in  temporal  affairs,  he  is  the  Mikado  or 
Emperor. 

Miako,  some  thirty  miles  inland,  was  his  ancient  capital,  and 


0 

Q 
Q 

h 

<: 

0 

< 

0 

w 

J 

< 
o 

w 

s 


THE   TYCOON  AND  MIKxiDO.  53 

Osaka  its  seaport.  The  Emperor  by  divine  riglit  owned  the  lands 
in  the  empire,  and  in  time  graciously  divided  them  into  provinces ; 
rstainino-  five  or  more  of  these  for  himself,  he  parcelled  out  the 
others  among  great  lords  or  princes,  called  daimios.  In  the  thir- 
teenth century,  a  rebellion  arose  in  the  empire,  and  the  Mikado, 
remainino-  at  Miako,  committed  the  defence  of  the  state  to  the 
richest  and  strongest  one  of  these  daimios,  who  wore  the  title  of 
"  Tycoon."  This  military  commander,  after  a  short  time,  absorbed 
the  temporal  sovereignty  and  reigned  absolutely.  Ycddo  thus  be- 
came a  third  capital  of  the  empire. 

The  Tycoon,  nevertheless,  paid  homage  to  the  Mikado,  who  re- 
tained his  titular  rank,  and  unquestioned  spiritual  authority  and 
preeminence.  Besides  the  proper  revenues  of  his  own  five  prov- 
inces, the  Mikado  enjoyed,  for  the  support  of  his  dignity,  an  annual 
allowance  made  by  the  Tycoon,  out  of  the  general  revenues  of  the 
empire.  As  he  cultivated  religion  and  such  science  as  the  age 
allowed,  Miako  became  the  centre  of  intelligence  and  learning.  It 
still  retains  this  distinction.  Osaka  being  an  alternate  residence  of 
the  Mikado,  it  partook  of  the  sanctity  of  the  capital. 

By  degrees  the  Mikado,  free  from  all  responsibility  for  admin- 
istration, grew  in  the  aftections  of  the  j)eople,  while  the  Tycoon, 
exercising  his  power  despotically,  and  held  responsible  for  all  na- 
tional disasters  and  misfortunes,  became  an  object  of  public  jealousy 
and  hatred.  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  the  United  States,  through 
Commodore  Perry,  and  the  European  powers  afterward,  made  their 
treaties  with  the  Tycoon,  in  ignorance  of  any  pretensions  on  the 
part  of  the  Mikado  to  temporal  power.  It  was  the  Tycoon  who 
sent  two  successive  embassies  to  the  United  States,  one  in  1860  and 
the  other  in  186S.  In  1865,  the  ministers  of  the  Western  powers, 
residing  at  Yeddo,  wrote  alarming  accounts  of  popular  discontents 
with  the  Tycoon's  administration,  and  of  frantic  appeals  made  to 
the  Mikado  to  resume  the  sovereign  power,  annul  the  treaties,  and 
expel  foreigners  from  the  empire.  For  this  object,  a  party  was 
formed  by  powerful  daimios  and  fanatical  ecclesiastics. 

While  matters  were  in  this  situation,  a  young  daimio,  son  of 
the  powerful  Prince  Satsuma,  was  improving  an  academic  vacation 


54:  JAPAX,    CHINA,   AN"D   COCIIIX  CHINA. 

in  England,  to  visit  the  United  States.  IIo  went  to  Mi*.  Seward, 
in  the  Department  of  State.  He  inquired  of  the  prince  to  which 
of  the  local  parties  in  Japan  he  belonged.  To  Mr.  Seward's  sur- 
prise, he  answered,  "to  the  Mikado's."  "What,"  said  Mr.  Seward, 
"  is  the  cause  of  the  civil  war,  and  what  question  does  it  involve  ? " 
He  replied :  "  The  Tycoon,  who  has  no  title  to  the  throne,  but  is  only 
a  general  in  the  imperial  service,  some  time  ago  usurped  the  gov-» 
ernment,  and  claims  to  transmit  it  to  his  heirs.  This  usurpation  is 
intolerable."  "  How  long,"  said  Mr.  Seward,  "  since  this  usurpa- 
tion was  committed  ? "  "  Oh,  it  is  very  recent — it  is  only  six  hun- 
dred years  since  it  occurred." 

The  revolution  was  successful,  the  dynasty  of  the  Tycoon  was 
abolished,  and  the  heaven-descended  Mikado  in  the  year  18G8, 
leaving  his  spiritual  seat  at  Miako,  repaired  to  Yeddo,  and  fully 
resumed  the  throne  of  his  ancestors.  He  promptly  confirmed 
the  treaties,  and  of  course  was  duly  recognized  by  the  Western 
powers. 

October  Aih. — At  nine  this  morning  a  cavalry-escort  was  placed 
at  Mr.  Seward's  command.  It  is  attentive  and  orderly,  although, 
according  to  our  Western  ideas,  not  particularly  well  mounted  or 
disciplined. 

After  a  diligent  exploration  of  the  two  or  three  European  livery- 
stables  in  the  city,  the  consul  succeeded  in  procuring  three  well- 
worn  English  carriages,  drawn  by  native  ponies,  like  those  of  our 
escort.  Taking  no  heed  of  the  suggestion  that  women  are  forbidden 
in  Japanese  society,  and  unknown  at  court,  Mr.  Seward  pi'oceeded 
to  the  foreign  office  with  the  ladies,  the  minister,  Mr.  Uandall 
and  the  consul.  (Mr.  George  F.  Seward  and  Mrs.  Seward  have 
gone  forward  to  Shanghai.)  As  we  drove  through  the  streets,  we 
found  them  filled  with  gayly-dressed  and  merry  crowds,  and  thus 
learned  that  Mr.  Seward's  appointment  had  fallen  on  one  of  the 
numerous  national  holidays. 

The  foreign  office  is  in  the  centre  of  a  paved  court,  which  is 
enclosed  by  a  stone-wall  twelve  feet  high.  The  gates  were  wide 
open ;  Mr.  Seward  and  his  friends  were  received  by  hundreds  of 


JAPANESE   PRIME-MIXISTER. 


55 


oflScial  persons,  witli  profound  demonstrations  of  homage.  The 
inner  building  is  of  wood,  one  story  high,  surrounded  by  a  broad 
corridor.  The  corridor  itself  is  separated  from  the  court  by  sliding 
sash-doors,  with  oiled-paper  and  silk  instead  of  glass.  On  the  inner 
side  the  corridor  opens  into  a  succession  of  chambers  constructed 
like  those  of  the  monastery  we  have  before  described ;  the  apart- 
ments small,  the  ceilings  low  and.  the  j^artitions  movable  panels. 
The  floors  are  covered  with  matting. 

AVe  were  conducted  through  the  corridor  to  a  room  a  little 
larger  than  the  others,  perhaps  eighteen  feet  square.  Some  furni- 
ture had  been  extemporized  here.     There  was  a  European  centre- 


JAPANESE   OFFICEE   OF   STATE. 


50  JAPAN",   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

table  covered  Avitli  an  ornamental  cloth,  a  small  Brussels  rug  spread 
under  the  table,  and  upon  it  a  lacquered  box  filled  with  cheroots, 
and  a  rich  bronze  brazier  containing  live  charcoal.  We  sat  on 
stools  in  the  order  indicated  by  the  Japanese  usher,  Mr.  Sew- 
ard being  next  the  seat  reserved  for  the  host.  Presentlv,  with 
great  rustling  of  silks,  Sawa,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  entered. 
He  bowed  many  times  very  low.  He  then  gave  his  hand  to  Mr. 
Seward  in  the  American  fashion,  and  afterward  to  the  other  visitors, 
as  they  were  formally  presented,  manifesting,  however,  some  slight 
embarrassment  in  exchanging  this  form  of  courtesy  with  the  ladies. 
"Well  he  might,  for  "  be  it  known  unto  all  to  whom  these  presents 
shall  come"  that  they  are  the  only  women,  of  whatever  nation  or 
race,  who,  within  the  memory  of  man,  have  been  received  in  an 
official  circle  in  Japan.  The  Japanese  Government  is  not  behind 
the  ancient  court  of  Haroun-al-Easchid,  in  the  opinion  that  "  women 
have  little  sense  and  no  religion."  The  porch  of  a  temple  in  the 
interior  has  this  inscription:  " ISTeither  horses,  cattle,  nor  women, 
admitted  here." 

Sawa  is  five  feet  ten,  and  stout.  He  has  the  features  of  the 
Mongolian,  with  its  complexion  a  little  relieved,  clear,  mild  eyes, 
and  an  expression  at  once  intelligent  and  amiable;  his  hands  and 
feet  very  small  and  delicate,  his  hair  gathered  up  from  all  sides, 
elaborately  oiled,  and  brushed  and  fastened  in  a  knot.  On  the  top 
of  his  head  rested  a  curiously-carved  jet-black  lacquered  cap,  which 
by  its  shape  reminded  us  of  a  toy-boat.  This  ornament  was  fast- 
ened under  the  chin  and  behind  the  head,  by  heavy  purj^le  silken 
cords  with  tassels  larcre  enoup'h  for  modest  window-curtains.  His 
dress  was  double — an  under-tunic  and  trousers  of  dark  silk  reps  ; 
the  upper  garments,  of  the  same  cut,  though  more  full  and  flowing, 
were  of  gold  and  white  brocade.  He  wore  spotless  white  shoes 
and  stockings — ^the  shoe  and  stocking  of  each  foot  being  of  one 
piece ;  at  his  side  a  single  sword,  highly  wrought,  with  hilt  and 
scabbard  of  ivory  and  gold.  Some  show  of  awkwardness  gave  us 
an  impression  that  he  found  his  magnificent  toilet,  on  this  occasion, 
inconvenient  and  uncomfortable.  Looking  at  Mr.  Seward,  Sawa, 
in  a  very  low  voice,  pronounced,  in  the  Japanese  language,  what 


THE   JAPANESE   INTERPRETER. 


57 


sounded  like  not  one  speech,  but  a  succession  of  distinct  sen- 
tences. The  interpreter  Islitabashi,  kneeling  at  his  side,  at  the 
close  of  each  sentence  signified  his  understanding  of  it  by  the 
aspirate  "  Hi !  hi !  hi !  "     Sawa  having  finished,  Ishtabashi  gathered 


JAPANESE    IXTEKPEETEE,    IX    COCnX  DRESS. 


up  the  sense  of  these  fragmentary  speeches,  and  rendered  the  whole 
into  Enijlish,  as  follows  : 

"Mr.  Seward,  all  the  ministers  of  Japan  proposed  to  receive 
you  on  your  arrival  at  Teddo,  at  such  a  time  as  you  would  appoint. 
But  this  is  a  holiday  in  our  country.  It  is  our  custom  that  at  this 
hour,  on  every  holiday,  all  the  ministers  repair  to  the  castle, 
and  pay  their  homages  to  his  Majesty  the  Tenno.  The  other 
ministers  have  gone  there  for  that  purpose.     I  have  obtained  from 


58  JAPAX,   CHIXA,  AND  COCHIX  CIIIXA. 

his  Majesty  the  indulgence  to  remain  here,  and  receive  you  in 
behalf  of  my  associates." 

Mr.  Seward  thanked  the  minister,  and  expressed  regret  that  he 
had  unwittingly  chosen  so  unsuitable  a  day  for  his  visit. 

Sawa  resumed  :  "  I  have  heard  of  you  much,  and  I  know  you 
by  character.  I  see  your  face  now  for  the  first  time,  and  I  am 
happy  to  see  it." 

Mr.  Seward  answered,  that  it  afforded  him  great  pleasure  to  see 
Japan,  and  become  acquainted  with  its  government. 

The  Minister :  "  I  am  happy  that  you  have  arrived  safely  after 
so  long  a  journey.  1  see  that  you  are  very  old  and  very  hand- 
some. You  show  high  resolution  in  making  so  great  a  voyage. 
All  of  us  will  be  glad  to  avail  ourselves  of  your  large  experience  as 
a  statesman." 

We  are  not  a  practical  reporter,  and  therefore  cannot  detail  the 
long  and  interesting  conversation  which  followed.  It  was  highly 
deferential  on  both  sides.  Some  parts  of  it  showed  that  the  pro- 
fession of  politics  is  the  same  in  Japan  as  in  other  countries.  Sawa 
was  asking  Mr.  Seward's  good  offices  to  obtain  a  mediation  by  the 
United  States  Government,  to  efifeet  an  adjustment  with  Russia  of 
the  boundary-question  which  involves  the  title  to  the  island  of 
Saghalien.  Mr.  Seward,  hardly  willing  to  assume  so  grave  a 
responsibility,  tried  to  divert  Sawa's  attention  from  it,  saying  that 
the  United  States  and  Russia  were  once  near  neighbors  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  that  a  dispute  arose  between 
them  concernmo;  the  ric-ht  of  American  seamen  to  take  fish  in 
Russian  waters.  The  controversy,  just  at  the  moment  when  it  was 
becoming  serious,  was  happily  brought  to  an  end  by  the  United 
States  purchasing  the  entire  Russian  possessions  on  the  American 
Continent.  "  What  would  you  think,"  he  added,  playfully,  "  of  a 
suggestion  that  Japan  shall,  in  the  same  way,  purchase  Saghalien  ?  " 

The  minister  hesitated,  cast  his  eyes  on  the  fioor,  and  medi- 
tated ;  then,  looking  up  with  a  smile  of  conscious  satisfaction,  he 
answered  :  "  All  our  histories  ao-ree  that  the  entire  island  of  Sagha- 
lien  belongs  to  Japan  now.  We  could  not  buy  from  Russia  terri- 
tory which  we  own  ourselves ! " 


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THE  TOMBS  OF  THE  TYCOONS.  59 

"  That  is  so,"  replied  Mr.  Seward,  "  and,  if  the  people  of  Japan 
are  like  the  people  of  the  United  States,  you  will  very  soon  find 
out 'that  you  can  no  more  sell  your  own  territory  to  others  than 
you  can  buy  it  from  them." 

During  the  conversation,  tea  and  cigars,  and  afterward  cham- 
pagne and  calces,  were  served  by  attendants  who  crouched  on  the 
floor  whenever  they  received  or  executed  a  command.  After  an 
hour  and  a  half  passed,  Sawa  mentioned  the  places  of  special  inter- 
est in  Yeddo  which  he  thought  Mr.  Seward  ought  to  see,  and  ex- 
plained the  arrangements  which  had  been  made  for  that  purpose  ; 
then,  stipulating  a  private  interview  with  Mr.  De  Long  for  the 
afternoon,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Afiairs  rose  and  took  a  graceful 
leave  by  bowing  and  shaking  hands  cordially  with  the  whole  party. 

Yeddo  is  a  singular  combination  of  compactly-built  and  densely- 
inhabited  districts,  with  intervening  gardens  and  groves,  appropri- 
ated to  civil  and  religious  uses.  When  in  one  of  those  populous 
districts,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  that  the  whole  vast  city  is  not 
built  in  the  same  way ;  and  when  in  one  of  the  deeply-shaded  parks, 
it  is  impossible  to  realize  that  you  are  in  the  heart  of  a  great  city. 

As  Sawa  had  suggested,  we  proceeded  first  to  Sheba,  the  spa- 
cious grounds  which  contain  the  colossal  tombs  of  the  Tycoons  who 
ruled  in  Japan  so  many  centuries.  Some  of  the  tombs  are  of 
granite,  others  of  bronze.  They  surpass,  not  only  in  costliness, 
but  in  impressive  effect,  any  imperial  or  royal  modern  cemetery 
in  the  West.  The  sarcophagus,  the  obelisk,  and  the  shaft,  forms 
familiar  in  Western  monumental  architecture,  equally  prevail  here. 
The  monuments  bear  no  epitaphs,  but  each  is  surrounded  with 
many  lantern-bearing  votive  shrines,  covered  with  inscriptions 
commemorative  of  the  virtues  and  achievements  of  the  dead,  and 
expressing  the  affection  and  gratitude  of  the  princes  by  whom  the 
tributary  structures  were  erected.  The  domain  is  planted  with 
great  taste.  Each  particular  tree  and  shrub  has  been  formed  and 
trained  into  a  shape  suggestive  of  religious  sentiment. 

By  the  side  of  the  cemetery  stands  the  Temple  of  Sheba.  What 
with  hideous  devices  of  the  great  red  dragon  of  Japan,  with  his 
forked  wings,  flaming  mane,  and  powerful  claws,  the  monstrous 


60 


JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 


TOMBS    OF  THE   TYPOONS. 


transformations  of  Buddha  into  lions  rampant  and  roaring,  pea- 
cocks proud  and  strutting,  and  sagacious  storks  stalking  and 
prophesying,  the  interior  of  the  temple  is  a  weird  combination 
of  the  mythic  and  the  terrific. 

Though  we  have  experienced  neither  menace  nor  insult,  our 
guard  is  nevertheless  indispensable  to  protect  us  against  intrusive 
curiosity.  The  crowds  gather  around,  and  follow  us  wherever  we 
alight  and  wherever  we  go.  Perhaps  the  escort  migbt  be  needed 
in  case  of  sudden  excitement  or  tumult,  such  as  is  liable  to  happen 
in  every  great  city. 

That  was  not  only  a  seasonable  but  a  pretty  and  pleasant  break- 
fast which  Sir  Harry  and  Lady  Parkes  gave  us  at  the  British  lega- 
tion. It  did  not  need  the  after  divertissement  of  native  legerdemain. 
The  zeal  and  efficiency  of  Sir  Harry  Parkes,  as  minister,  are  well 
known.  Lady  Parkes  is  not  less  distinguished  for  the  spirited  man- 
ner in  which  she  sustains  him  in  his  diplomatic  studies  and  labors. 

We  left  the  British  legation  in  compact  procession,  as  we  had 
entered  it,  Mr.  Seward  and  Mr.  De  Long  leading  in  a  pony-carriage, 


BEITISH  LEGATION  AT   YEDDO. 


61 


Mr.  De  Long  driving.  Three  other  carriages  followed,  attended  by 
the  consul,  and  the  whole  surrounded  by  the  escort.  For  a  time  the 
carriages  in  the  rear  had  the  forward  one  in  full  view,  while  its  occu- 
pants, frequently  looking  back,  exchanged  greetings.  Mr.  Seward 
and  Mr.  De  Long  at  length  reached  the  high  stone  bridge,  built 


BEITI8H  IXGATION,   TEDDO. 


across  one  of  the  canals,  and  famous  in  Japanese  history  as  the 
Nippon-Bas.  There  they  became  aware  that  the  other  carriages 
had  fallen  out  of  sight.  The  street  which  intervened  was  filled 
with  holiday  crowds,  drawing  huge,  painted  idols,  mounted  on  low 


G2  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

trucks.  These  crowds  were  rapidly  moving  in  the  direction  of  the 
missing  carriages.  Tlie  guards  who  surrounded  the  forward  car- 
riage gesticulated,  in  a  manner  betokening  alarm.  Mr.  De  Long,  a 
Western  gentleman,  becoming  excited,  said  to  Mr.  Seward,  "  There 
is  a  fight ;  the  ladies  are  attacked ! "  With  this  exclamation,  he 
sprang  from  the  carriage  and  rushed  back  at  the  top  of  his  speed, 
his  long  whip  in  his  left  hand  and  a  Colt's  revolver  in  his  right, 
determined  to  eifect  a  rescue.  Mr.  Seward  remained  sitting  in  the 
little  pony-carriage  on  the  Nippon-Bas,  attracting  a  constantly  in- 
creasing native  crowd.  Mr.  De  Long,  scattering  the  natives  right 
and  left,  found  the  carriages  in  the  clear,  open  street,  a  hundred 
rods  distant  from  the  bridge  and  vacant,  while,  upon  the  matted 
floor  of  a  silk-merchant's  "  go-down,"  he  found  the  ladies  with  the 
consul,  sipping  tea,  a  ceremony  always  introductory  here  to  the 
cheapening  of  Japanese  crapes  and  gauzes.  Without  saying  a  word, 
the  minister  pocketed  his  revolver,  and,  lowering  his  whip  in  the 
most  pacific  manner,  walked  quickly  back  to  Mr.  Seward,  whom  he 
found  safe  on  the  bridge.  Even  at  this  hour  of  writing,  it  remains 
uncertain  what  was  the  sentiment  which  overpowered  Mr.  De  Long 
at  this  discovery,  whether  it  was  one  of  satisfaction  at  finding  his 
yrotegees  in  safety,  or  of  mortification  at  having  so  impulsively 
yielded  to  groundless  alarm.  Neither  the  advance-guard,  nor  the 
main  body  of  the  procession,  has  been  able  to  discover  what  was 
the  occasion  of  the  Japanese  excitement  which  produced  so  much 
trouble. 

October  hth. — A  busy  day,  but  less  eventful.  We  have  visited 
the  Hamagoten  and  its  palace,  where  Mr.  Seward  was  to  have  been 
feasted.  The  palace,  built  and  ornamented  in  Japanese  style,  is 
luxuriously  furnished  in  the  European.  One  of  the  saloons  is  ap- 
propriately called  the  Cool-room,  its  walls  and  ceilings  being  deco- 
rated exclusively  with  huge  pictured  fans,  in  many  different  posi- 
tions, and  so  well  executed  that  you  might  fancy  that  you  feel  the 
air  stirred  by  their  motion.  The  grounds  are  as  extensive  as  those 
of  Central  Park  in  New  York,  and  not  less  elaborately  embellished. 
There  are  quaint  bamboo  summer-houses,  with  pretty  scroll  roofs, 


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THE  JAPANESE  DELMONICO'S.  63 

covered  with  hundreds  of  creepers,  known  to  us  only  in  our  green- 
houses, standing  in  the  midst  of  lakes  well  stocked  with  gold-fish. 
There  are  groves  of  mulberries,  chestnuts,  persimmons,  and  oranges. 
Stately  shade-trees,  cut  and  twisted  into  the  shapes  of  animals, 
castles,  and  ships,  crown  hundreds  of  high  knolls  which  overlook 
the  smooth  bay  of  Yeddo. 

From  the  Hamagoten,  we  drove  to  old  Osakasa,  where  we 
wonderingly  examined  a  temple  which  surpasses  all  the  others  we 
have  seen.  Superstition,  though  abating  in  Japan,  is  nevertheless 
far  from  being  extinct.  They  show  at  Sheba,  in  the  court  of  the 
temple,  a  bowlder,  in  the  top  of  which  a  deep,  smooth,  circular  basin 
has  been  made,  which  is  filled  with  water,  and  kept  carefully  cov- 
ered with  a  stone  lid.  It  is  an  accepted  belief  that  this  water  rises 
and  falls  with  the  ocean-tide.  At  Osakasa  we  were  required  to 
look  with  reverence  upon  two  native  ponies  (one  cream-colored, 
the  other  brown),  both  nicely  trimmed  and  groomed,  and  superbly 
caparisoned,  occupying  apartments  neat  as  a  parlor.  They  remain 
in  perpetual  readiness  for  the  equestrian  exercises  of  the  gods.  The 
beasts  are  maintained  by  pious  contributions  of  pilgrims.  Ecclesias- 
tics in  Japan,  as  sometimes  they  do  elsewhere,  resort  to  questionable 
expedients  for  raising  money.  The  highly-ornamented  grounds  of 
Osakasa  are  rented  for  tea-houses,  theatrical  exhibitions,  jugglers' 
entertainments,  and  other  popular  amusements. 

A  dinner  was  ordered  for  us  at  a  tea-house — the  "  Delmonico's  " 
of  Yeddo.  Leaving  our  carriages  with  the  escort'  in  the  streets, 
and  our  boots  at  the  door,  we  were  ushered  up  a  very  steep,  but 
highly-polished  wooden  staircase  into  a  chamber,  or  rather  a 
dozen  chambers  divided  by  sliding-doors.  Here  we  sat  down  on 
the  clean  matted  floor.  A  lacquered  table  was  set  before  each 
person .  It  was  eight  or  ten  inches  high,  and  large  enough  for  two 
small  covers.  Tea  in  little  cups  without  saucers  was  served,  clear, 
and  piping  hot.  After  the  tea,  saki,  a  liquor  distilled  from  rice, 
fiery  and  distasteful,  was  poured  from  a  porcelain  vase  into  such 
small,  shallow,  red,  lacquered  vessels  as  we  sometimes  mistake  for 
tea-saucers.  Our  hostess,  a  middle-aged  matron,  was  assisted  by 
eleven  pretty  girls,   their   ages  varying   from  twelve  to  sixteen. 


64 


JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 


These  attendants,  by  the  elegance  of  their  costume  and  abundance 
of  white  cosmetics,  had  enhanced  their  beauty  to  the  degree  that, 
in  Oriental  speech,  it  would  be  said  that  "  every  one  of  them  was  a 
temptation  to  the  servants  of  God."  One  of  them  went  down  on 
her  knees  beside  each  guest,  and  remained  there  until  it  was  time 
to  bring  on,  with  the  tiniest  of  delicate  hands,  a  new  course.  Their 
actions  were  graceful  and  modest,  their  voices  bird-like.  They 
manifested  childish  delight  at  every  compliment  we  gave  them,  and 
their  pleasure  seemed  to  rise  to  ecstasy  when  permitted  to  examine 
our  watches,  fans,  parasols  and  other  articles  of  dress  or  ornament. 


JAPANESE    MT78ICIAN. 


A   SELF-DENYING   ORDINANCE.  65 

The  dinner,  however,  was  rather  a  self-denying  ordinance. 
There  was  a  vegetable  soup  flavored  with  soy,  raw  flsh  in  thin 
slices  with  horse-radish,  petty  bits  of  game,  various  preparations  of 
rice,  and  many  dishes  whose  composition  was  unascertainable. 
These  courses  were  intermingled  with  sweetened  fruits  and  confec- 
tionery. Saki  was  offered  with  every  course,  and  always  with  great 
ceremony.  All  the  dishes  had  one  common  flavor,  which  we  could 
not  analyze.  Even  the  sugar  had  this  raw,  indescribable  taste.  After 
the  entertainment,  the  girls,  sitting  on  the  floor,  each  with  a  rude 
instrument,  in  form  a  compromise  between  the  banjo  and  the  guitar, 
played  and  sang,  and  at  intervals  rose  and  danced.  Though  the 
aii-s  were  not  without  melody  and  harmony,  they  were  so  crude 
and  monotonous  that  the  highest  expert  in  the  "heavenly  art'' 
could  find  no  musical  meaning  in  them.  The  posturing  and  ges- 
ticulation were  artistic,  though  the  dancing  was  conducted  on  no 
rules  of  the  ballet.  Great  skill  was  displayed  in  the  dance,  the 
long  and  heavy  dresses  of  the  performers  always  covering  the  feet, 
and  most  of  the  time  even  the  hands.  Night  overtook  us  before 
we  left  this  "  haunt  of  delight,"  and  the  performers  accompanied 
us  from  the  banqueting-floor  to  our  carriages  in  the  dark  street. 
Their  grateful  gestures  and  speaking  smiles  were  intelligible,  though 
their  soft  and  gentle  words  were  not. 

"We  needed  to  drive  with  much  care  throus^h  the  crowded 
streets,  now  dimly  lighted  with  an  occasional  paper  lantern.  But 
our  dragoons  were  men  "  dressed  in  brief  authority  ;  "  they  dashed 
furiously  forward,  and,  with  shrieking  shouts  and  screams,  startling 
myriads  of  bats  from  the  thatched  roofs,  they  drove  the  people, 
returning  from  their  daily  occupations,  or  Kstening  to  theatrical 
amusements,  into  the  open  doors  or  alleys. 

October  Uh. — The  day  began  at  Yeddo  with  an  audience  given 
by  Mr.  Seward,  at  the  consulate.  The  visitors  were  Japanese  who 
have  acquired  some  knowledo-e  of  foreio-n  nations.  Mr.  Seward 
inquired  for  the  Tycoon's  ambassadors,  Ono  Tomogoro  and  Mats- 
moto  Judaiyu,  with  whom  he  had  negotiated  in  "Washington.  But 
there  has  been  a  revolution.     The  Mikado,  then  onlv  a  nominal 


66  JAPAN,   CHINA,    AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

sovereign,  is  now  absolute  at  the  castle.  The  Tycoon  is  a  prisoner 
of  state ;  Ono  Tomogoro  is  also  a  prisoner,  nobody  knows  where, 
and  Matsmoto  Judaiyu  is  a  fugitive — some  say  at  Shanghai,  others 
at  San  Francisco.  It  seems  to  surpass  Japanese  comprehension 
that  a  new  administration  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
has  come  in,  and  that  Mr.  Seward  has  gone  out  of  place  without 
losing  his  head  or  public  consideration. 

While  Mr.  Seward  was  holding  his  audience,  the  ladies  shopped. 
The  Japanese  artisans  contrive  to  produce  exquisite  articles  of 
taste  and  veHu  from  cheap  materials,  and  with  an  infinitesimal 
proportion  of  the  precious  metals.  Their  modern  porcelain  is 
inferior  to  the  Chinese,  but  they  excel  in  ornamental  lacquer-work 
and  fons  of  all  sorts.  Their  designs  in  bronze  are  exceedingly 
curious,  but  their  execution  inferior  to  that  of  Europeans.  In 
painting  they  are  unsurpassed  in  the  imitation  of  all  forms  of  animal 
life.  With  a  keen  sense  of  the  ludicrous,  they  may  yet  come  to  be 
employed  as  caricaturists  in  our  presidential  elections ! 

There  is  no  special  manufacture  at  Yeddo.  It  is  an  emporium 
for  the  whole  empire.  We  have  found  it  impossible  to  ascertain 
the  districts  in  which  particular  classes  of  articles  are  made.  The 
shops  are  small  and  closely  packed  with  wares.  The  indifference 
assumed  by  the  merchants  would  be  provoking,  if  it  were  not  for 
their  extreme-  politeness.  If  the  buyer  means  to  obtain  a  fair  bar- 
gain, he  must  affect  equal  reserve  and  indifference.  The  entire 
family  look  on,  half  a  dozen  men  and  three  or  four  women  busying 
themselves  in  every  sale.  Indeed,  the  house  and  the  shop  are  one. 
Four  feet  square  of  matting  in  the  centre  of  the  shop  is  the  common 
dining-room  and  bedroom.     Must  they  not  eat  and  sleep  by  turns  ? 

The  United  States  minister  was  recalled  to  Yokohama  last 
night.  Captain  Bachelor  put  the  reins  of  two  fine  American  horses 
into  our  hands,  to  drive  in  a  light  Kew-England  phaeton  down  the 
Tokaido  to  Yokohama.  Mr.  Randall  conveyed  the  other  ladies  in  a 
carriage  drawn  by  Mr.  De  Long's  mottled  native  ponies.  Each  car- 
riage was  attended  by  two  hettos,  quick-footed  boys,  whose  service  is 
to  run  like  coach-dogs  by  the  side  of  horse  or  carriage,  warning 
everybody  out  of  the  way,  and  they  are  ready  to  seize  and  hold 


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ON   THE   ROAD   TO  YOKOHAMA.  67 

the  horses  fit  every  stopping-place,  or  in  any  case  of  alarm.  The 
road  was  literally  crowded,  and  hilarity  and  merriment  displayed 
themselves  on  all  sides.  The  crowds  were  labyrinthian.  The 
activity  and  songs  of  the  hettos,  and  the  ejaculations  and  impreca- 
tions of  our  mounted  guard,  with  the  clangor  of  their  arms,  made 
our  rapid  drive  a  very  exciting  one,  while  a  bracing  air  with  genial 
sunshine  was  exhilarating.  But  all  pleasures  have  their  draw- 
backs. ISTeither  the  hettos  nor  the  dragoons  were  capable  of  under- 
standing our  requests  or  remonstrances.  They  wanted  rest  at 
every  tea-house,  or,  what  was  the  same  thing,  they  sought  favor  at 
the  tea-houses  by  bringing  us  up  at  the  doors.  The  guard  dis- 
mounted, and,  with  the  hettos,  took  the  refreshments  profusely  of- 
fered them,  while  we,  though  declining  any,  were  obliged  to  wait. 
"When  we  had  made  twelve  miles,  half  the  distance  to  Yokohama, 
we  brought  up  at  a  hostelry,  with  a  stable.  Our  horses  were  taken 
out  to  be  fed  and  groomed.  From  open  windows  in  an  upper 
chamber  we  saw  in  the  court  a  huge  brass  caldron  sunk  in  the 
ground  over  an  oven.  The  horses  were  brought  to  it.  Four 
grooms  took  possession  of  each  horse,  and  rubbed  him  thoroughly 
from  head  to  hoof  with  wisps  of  straw  dripping  with  hot  water,  and 
afterward  dried  him  with  as  much  care  as  the  human  patient  re- 
ceives when  he  comes  out  of  a  Turkish  bath.  We  improved  the 
time  by  a  Japanese  dinner,  which,  when  we  were  completely  sur- 
feited, M'e  left  unfinished,  very  much  to  the  disappointment  of  the 
music-girls.  Once  more  on  the  road,  we  indulged  a  faint  hope 
of  reaching  Yokohama  before  midnight.  We  came,  after  three  or 
four  miles,  to  the  bank  of  a  river  twenty  rods  wide.  There  was  one 
rough  flat-boat  on  the  other  side,  worked  by  an  endless  chain.  Wc 
awaited  its  tedious  arrival  and  delivery  of  passengers  multitudinous 
and  various.  Then  our  beasts  were  led  separately  into  the  boat 
and  crossed.  It  returned  to  our  shore,  and,  as  in  the  riddle  of  the 
fox,  goose  and  peck  of  corn,  took  the  dragoons  and  the  carriages. 
"  Last  came  joy's  ecstatic  trial."  Wc  hurried  on  board,  and,  reach- 
ing the  opposite  bank,  found  the  vehicles  there,  but  not  the  horses. 
We  were  obliged  to  walk  forward  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  to  a  place 
where  the  hettos  and  cavalry  were  taking  tea  and  smoking,  as  if  they 


68  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

had  fasted  the  whole  day.  Then  they  went  back  and  bronght  up 
the  impedimenta.  A  brilliant,  full-orbed  moon  expanded  into 
majestic  size  every  object  that  we  passed,  and  lit  up  the  waters  of 
the  bay  as  we  approached  Kanagawa.  Mr.  De  Long's  native  ponies, 
after  frequently  giving  out  on  the  way,  fell  in  climbing  the  sharp, 
high  hill,  and  it  taxed  our  own  horsemanship  to  get  over  this  dif- 
ficult part  of  the  road.  The  other  carriage  was  drawn  over  the 
hill  by  the  hettos  and  dragoons,  and  the  ponies  were  then  re- 
attached. Meantime  hettos  and  dragoons  lighted  each  his  varie- 
gated paper  lantern.  They  made  the  suburban  streets  of  Yoko- 
hama resound  with  vociferous  shouts,  thus  exciting  the  astonish- 
ment and  perhaps  the  fears  of  this  inoifensive  people.  We  arrived 
at  Mr.  Walsh's  hospitable  gate,  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  our 
friends  within,  who,  owing  to  the  lateness  of  the  hour,  had  become 
apprehensive  for  our  safety. 

Steamship  New  YorJc^  off  the  Coast  of  JajMn,  October  Sth. — We 
have  embarked,  without  having  had  time  on  shore  to  record  the 
latest  and  most  striking  incidents  of  our  visit  at  Yokohama,  Mr. 
Seward  was  not  allowed  to  leave  Japan  without  a  marked  dem- 
onstration from  the  government,  as  well  as  an  expression  of 
respect  from  the  foreign  residents.  On  our  return  from  Yeddo,  on 
the  6th,  he  received  an  invitation  to  an  audience  of  the  Mikado. 
This  ceremony  is  usually  distinguished  by  procrastinations  and 
formalities  even  more  tedious  than  in  European  courts.  The  time 
being  shortened,  however,  in  this  case,  the  invitation  was  accepted. 
Yesterday  morning,  we  were  awakened  from  sleep,  which  was  quite 
too  short  after  our  drive  on  the  previous  day,  by  an  infinite 
clatter  of  mechanics,  upholsterers,  and  decorators,  who  were  engaged 
in  constructing  with  canvas,  all  around  Mr.  Walsh's  very  large 
house,  a  broad  suite  of  saloons,  dancing-halls,  waiting-rooms  and 
supper-rooms.  The  whole  was  completed  during  -the  day,  decorated 
with  flags  and  tropical  shrubbery,  and  flowers,  and  softly  lighted  by 
fanciful  lanterns.  The  band  of  the  German  naval  squadron  played 
"Hail  Columbia,"  and  the  ball  was  opened  at  ten  o'clock.  All 
the  diplomatic  and  consular  corps  were  present,  as  well  as  the  naval 


IXTERVIEW   WITH   THE   MIKADO.  69 

officers  of  the  United  States  and  other  nations,  and  foreign  resi- 
dents. Of  course,  not  one  Japanese  of  either  sex  was  there,  for,  as 
Ave  have  before  intimated,  there  is  no  social  intermingling  of  the  two 
populations.  Caste  and  race  are  unrelenting  antagonists  to  univer- 
sal civilization.  This  beautiful  ball  crowned  most  gracefully  the 
generous  hospitalities  of  which  we  were  recipients  during  our  so- 
journ with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Walsh. 

At  two  o'clock  yesterday  morning,  while  the  merry  dance  was 
yet  going  on,  Captain  Bachelor  brought  to  the  wharf,  in  front  of 
Mr.  Walsh's  compound,  then  so  highly  illuminated,  a  little  steam- 
yacht  and  received  Mr.  Seward  on  board,  who^,  against  all  remon- 
strance, persisted  in  keeping  his  engagement,  although  in  the  midst 
of  a  driving  wind  and  rain.  He  was  accompanied  by  Mr.  De  Long, 
Mr.  Shepherd,  and  Mr.  AValsh,  and  at  six  o'clock,  after  ground- 
ing three  or  four  times  on  the  way,  they  were  safely  landed  at 
Yeddo.  At  eight  o'clock,  Mr.  Ishtabashi  appeared  in  rich  official 
Japanese  costume,  and,  profoundly  bowing,  said,  with  measured 
words  :  "  I  am  waiting  for  the  honor  of  conducting  Mr.  Seward  to 
the  great  castle,  where  he  will  be  received  by  his  Majesty  the  Tenno  ; 
not  in  the  customary  official  manner,  but  in  a  private  audience,  as 
an  expression  of  personal  respect  and  friendship.  I  am  particularly 
commanded  to  make  this  explanation  of  the  character  of  the  pro- 
posed audience." 

At  nine  o'clock  the  party  proceeded  in  two  carriages,  with 
an  enlarged  mounted  escort.  They  were  conducted,  whether  by 
design  or  not,  through  streets  bordered  by  immense  walled  en- 
closures, which  are  the  strongholds  and  barracks  of  the  several 
daimios  who,  under  the  Tycoon's  administration,  were  required  to 
reside  during  alternate  periods,  with  their  armed  retainers,  at  the 
capital.  The  discontinuance  of  this  usage,  since  the  restoration  of 
the  Mikado,  is  a  singular  illustration  of  the  same  advance  toward 
a  more  popular  system  of  government  which  was  made  by  the 
kings  of  Europe  when  they  reduced  the  feudal  barons  to  subjection. 
The  barracks  vacated  by  the  daimios'  soldiers  are  now  occupied  by 
imperial  battalions.  The  feudal  soldiers  of  the  Tycoon  must  have 
been  a  ferocious  crew,  if  they  were  more  savage  than  these  rough 


70  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND  COCHIN  CHINA. 

and  ill-looking  guards  of  tlie  Tenno.  The  citadel,  called  "  The  Great 
Castle,"  crowns  an  eminence  in  the  centre  of  the  citj.  It  is  a  triple 
fortification,  nine  miles  in  circumference,  consisting  of  three  con- 
centric forts,  each  by  itself  complete,  with  rampart,  inner  embank- 
ment, ditch,  bastion  and  glacis,  parapet  and  double  gates.  The 
outer  fort  stands  on  a  level  with  the  plain,  the  next  higher,  and  the 
central  one  higher  still,  overlooking  the  country  and  the  sea.  The 
walls  of  each  are  fifty  feet  high,  built  of  granite  blocks,  more  mas- 
sive than  those  of  the  Eip-Raps,  off"  Old  Point  Comfort.  The  impe- 
rial palace  is  in  the  centre  of  the  inner  fort.  It  is  a  low  structure, 
differing  from  the  temples  and  monasteries  which  we  have  before 
described,  not  in  material  or  style  of  architecture,  but  in  the  ar- 
rangement of  its  apartments.  The  area  which  surrounds  it  is 
tastefully  planted  and  adorned  with  lawns,  winding  gravelled 
wallas,  small  lakes,  and  what  we  would  call  summer-houses,  and 
tenements  for  attendants  and  servants.  The  areas  of  the  other  two 
fortifications  are  similarly  embellished.  In  any  past  stage  of  mili- 
tary science,  the  citadel  must  have  been  impregnable.  We  cannot 
learn  its  history. 

When  Mr.  Seward  and  his  friends  had  reached  the  gates  of  the 
outer  fort,  they  were  received  with  a  salute  at  each  of  the  double 
portals,  and  were  permitted  to  pass  through  in  carriages  to  the 
gates  of  the  second.  They  were  received  here  with  similar  hon- 
ors, and  passed  to  the  gates  of  the  third.  Entering  these  with 
salutes  as  before,  they  were  received  by  one  of  the  eight  Ministers 
of  Foreign  AfiTairs,  who,  having  requested  them  to  dismiss  their 
carriages,  conducted  them,  with  much  obeisance,  across  the  lawns 
to  a  sheltered  place,  where  they  rested  on  lacquer  stools.  Here  a 
second  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  joined  the  party,  and,  making 
new  compliments,  led  them  to  seats  on  the  shore  of  a  small  lake. 
Here  the  minister  informed  Mr.  Seward  that  Mr.  Walsh,  being  an 
unofficial  gentleman,  could  proceed  no  farther,  and  that  the  same 
rule  excluded  Freeman.  They  stopped.  At  this  juncture  Sawa, 
chief  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  met  Mr.  Seward,  and  conducted 
him  to  a  summer-house  more  spacious  than  the  others,  which  over- 
looks a  larger  and  deeper  lake.     On  the  way  thither,  he  obtained  a 


IJI^TERYIEW   WITH   THE   MIKADO.  Yl 

view  of  a  part  of  the  imperial  stud.  A  rail  twelve  or  fifteen  feet 
long  is  fixed  three  feet  above  the  ground,  on  supports.  Several 
iron-gray  Japanese  ponies,  unattended  by  grooms,  stood  at  this  rail, 
in  readiness  for  his  Majesty's  use  at  the  close  of  the  proposed  audi- 
ence. When  the  party  had  arrived  at  the  summer-house,  the  prime- 
minister,  the  Chief  Minister  of  Finance  and  the  heads  of  the  other 
departments,  were  found  waiting,  and  they  were  severally  presented 
by  Sawa  to  Mr.  Seward.  The  whole  party  then  sat  down  at  an 
oblong  table,  the  prime-minister  presiding,  and  Mr.  Seward  and  the 
other  visitors  on  his  left  hand,  the  Japanese  ministers  on  his  right. 
The  prime-minister  first,  and  after  him  each  of  his  associates,  ad- 
dressed Mr.  Seward  in  words  of  courteous  welcome,  to  which  he 
briefly  replied.  A  pleasant  conversation  now  ensued,  during  which 
tea,  cakes,  confectionery,  cigars  and  champagne,  were  successively 
brought  in  by  attendants,  who  prostrated  themselves  on  the  ground 
at  every  ofifer  of  their  service.  The  prime-minister  then,  in  a  very 
direct  but  most  courteous  way,  said  to  Mr.  Seward  :  "  It  is  thf 
custom  of  his  Majesty  the  Tenno  to  receive  official  visits  upon  busi- 
ness afiairs  in  an  edifice  which  is  built  for  that  express  public  pur- 
pose, and  called  among  us  a  court ;  but  his  Majesty  on  this  occasion 
recognizes  you  as  a  special  friend  of  Japan,  and  a  man  devoted  to 
the  welfare  of  all  nations,  and  he  therefore  proposes,  by  way  of 
showing  his  high  respect  for  you,  to  receive  you,  not  at  a  public 
court,  but  in  a  private  lodge  of  his  O'^ti,  to  which  he  will  come 
down  from  his  palace  to  meet  you." 

Mr.  Seward  answered  that  he  appreciated  his  Majesty's  conde- 
scension and  kindness.  While  this  conversation  was  going  on, 
Mr.  Seward,  looking  through  an  open  window,  saw  at  a  long  dis- 
tance his  friend  Mr.  Walsh,  and  Freeman,  walking  within  the  pre- 
cinct which  had  been  appointed  them.  Presently,  an  officer  came 
hurriedly  into  the  presence  of  the  grave  international  council  at  the 
summer-house,  and  announced  an  intrusion.  The  prime-minister, 
upon  Mr.  Seward's  explanation,  directed  that  the  supposed  eaves- 
droppers should  not  be  interfered  with,  but  they  must  come  no 
farther. 

Wlien  half  an  hour  had  passed,  a  chamberlain   announced  his 


72  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND  COCHIN   CHINA. 

Majesty's  arrival  at  the  summcr-liouse.  Sawa  and  Islitabaslii  re- 
mained with  Mr.  Sewai'd  ;  all  the  other  ministers  took  leave  to  join 
the  Mikado.  A  final  summons  came  to  Sawa ;  he  rose  and  con- 
ducted the  party  some  distance  along  a  smooth,  narrow  walk,  till 
they  came  to  a  high,  shaded  knoll,  conversing  by  the  way.  The 
minister  and  Islitabashi  now  stopped,  and,  making  low  genu- 
flections, announced,  in  subdued  and  almost  whispering  tones,  that 
his  Majesty  was  to  be  in  a  summer-house  directly  behind  this  hill. 
After  this,  there  was  no  word  spoken.  When  they  had  gone  round 
the  knoll,  the  lodge  which  now  contained  the  heaven-derived  Maj- 
esty of  Japan  came  to  view.  It  stands  five  feet  above  the  ground,  is 
one  story  high,  and  consists  of  four  square  rooms  of  equal  size,  with 
sliding  partitions,  the  ceilings  six  feet  high,  and  the  whole  building 
surrounded  by  a  veranda.  All  the  rooms  were  thrown  open,  and 
were  without  furniture.  The  visitors  entered  the  apartment,  which 
was  at  their  left,  and,  looking  directly  forward,  saw  only  Ishtabnshi 
surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  ofiicial  persons,  all  crouched  on  the  floor. 
Having  reached  the  exact  centre  of  the  room,  Mr.  Seward  w\as 
requested  to  turn  to  the  right.  He  did  this  without  changing  his 
place.  The  United  States  minister  and  the  consul  stood  at  his  right 
hand.  In  this  position  he  directly  confronted  the  Mikado,  who  was 
sitting  on  a  throne  raised  on  a  dais  two  feet  above  the  floor.  The 
throne  is  a  large  arm-chair,  apparently  of  burnished  gold,  not  difi^er- 
ent  in  form  or  ornament  from  the  thrones  which  are  used  on  cere- 
monial occasions  in  European  courts.  All  the  cabinet  ministers 
and  many  other  officials  had  arranged  themselves  below  the  dais, 
and  behind  and  around  the  throne.  The  Mikado  w;is  dressed  in  a 
voluminous  robe  of  reddish-brown  brocade,  which  covered  his  whole 
person.  His  head-dress  diff'ered  in  fashion  from  that  which  was 
worn  by  Sawa  in  our  audience  with  him,  only  in  this,  that  a  kind 
of  curved  projecting  prong  was  attached  to  the  boat-shaped  cap, 
and  bent  upward,  the  corresponding  appurtenance  of  the  minister's 
cap  being  shorter,  and  bent  downward.  What  with  the  elevation 
of  the  dais,  and  the  height  of  his  elongated  cap,  the  emperor's  per- 
son, though  in  a  sitting  posture,  seemed  to  stretch  from  the  floor 
to  the  ceiling.     His  appearance  in  that  flowing  costume,  surrounded 


INTERVIEW   WITH   THE   MIKADO.  73 

by  a  mass  of  ministers  and  courtiers,  enveloped  in  variegated  and 
equally  redundant  silken  folds,  resting  on  the  floor,  reminded  Mr. 
Seward  of  some  of  the  efforts  in  mythology  to  represent  a  deity 
sitting  in  the  clouds.  His  dark  countenance  is  neither  unintelligent 
nor  particularly  expressive.  He  was  motionless  as  a  statue.  He 
held  a  sceptre  in  his  right  hand,  and  at  his  left  side  wore  one  richly- 
ornamented,  straight  sword.  What  the  Mikado  and  his  court 
thought  of  the  costumes  of  his  visitors,  with  their  uncovered  heads, 
square,  swallow-tailed  dress-coats,  tight  wdiite  cravats,  tighter  panta- 
loons, and  stiff,  black  boots,  we  shall  never  know.  "Who  shall  pro- 
nounce between  nations  in  matters  of  costume  ?  The  Mikado  raised 
his  sceptre,  and  the  prime-minister,  kneeling,  then  annomiced  to 
the  United  States  minister,  by  the  aid  of  Ishtabashi,  also  kneeling, 
that  he  might  speak.  Mr.  De  Long  advanced  a  step  or  two,  and, 
bowing  three  several  times,  said :  "  I  hope  I  find  your  Majesty  in 
good  health." 

The  prime-minister,  kneeling  again,  presented  to  the  Mikado  a 
written  paper,  open,  and  as  large  as  a  sheet  of  foolscap.  Tlie  Em- 
peror, after  looking  at  its  contents,  touched  it  with  his  sceptre. 
The  prime-minister  read  it  aloud  in  Japanese.  Ishtabashi,  again 
kneeling,  brought  his  head  to  the  floor,  and,  then  raising  it,  read, 
from  a  translation  which  lay  before  him  on  the  floor,  his  Majesty's 
gracious  answer  :  "  I  am  very  well ;  I  am  glad  to  see  you  here." 

Thereupon  Mr.  De  Long,  thus  reassured,  said  in  a  distinct  voice, 
worthy  of  a  Western  orator  as  he  is  : 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  present  to  your  Majesty,  William  H.  Sew- 
ard, a  citizen  of  the  United  States.  Your  Majesty  having  been 
pleased  to  invite  him  to  this  audience,  it  is  unnecessary  for  me  to 
speak  of  the  achievements  or  of  the  character  of  this  eminent  Ameri- 
can statesman." 

The  interpreter,  having  rendered  this  speech  into  Japanese, 
Mr.  De  Long  resumed  his  place.  In  accordance  witli  an  intima- 
tion from  the  prime-minister,  Mr.  Seward  now  advanced,  and 
said :  "  I  am  deeply  impressed  by  this  gracious  reception  by  the 
sovereign,  at  the  capital  of  this  great,  populous,  and  enmlous  em- 
pire.    I  desire  to  express  earnest  wishes  for  your  Majesty's  per- 


74  JAPAN,   CHINA,  AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

sonal  healtli  and  happiness,  and  for  the  peace,  welfare,  and  pros- 
perity of  Japan." 

The  prime-minister  held  before  his  Majesty  another  paper, 
which,  being  read  by  him,  was  then  rendered  by  the  interpreter  as 
follows : 

"  I  am  glad  to  see  you  now  for  the  first  time.  I  congratulate 
you  on  your  safe  arrival  here,  after  the  very  long  journey  you  have 
made.  The  great  experience  which  you  have  had  must  enable  you 
to  give  me  important  information  and  advice  how  to  promote  the 
friendship  that  happily  exists  between  your  country  and  my  own. 
If  you  would  please  to  communicate  any  thing  in  that  way,  you  are 
requested  to  make  it  known  to  my  prime-minister,  and  I  invite  you 
to  express  yourself  frankly  and  without  reserve." 

Mr.  Seward  replied :  "  I  thank  your  Majesty  for  this  gracious 
permission  to  confer  with  the  prime-minister  on  international 
affairs.  A  citizen  of  the  United  States,  I  am  visiting  Japan  and 
the  adjacent  countries  on  the  Pacific  coast,  as  a  traveller  and  ob- 
server. I  wear  no  official  character,  and  I  bring:  no  message.  The 
President,  however,  and  all  my  countrymen,  will  expect  me  not  to 
leave  any  thing  undone  which  I  can  do,  to  promote  a  happy  under- 
standing between  those  countries  and  the  United  States,  as  well  as 
also  the  advancement  of  civilization  in  both  hemispheres.  "With 
this  view,  I  shall,  with  great  pleasure,  avail  myself  of  the  privileges 
which  your  Majesty  has  granted  me." 

The  Emperor,  with  his  entire  court,  remained  in  place  until  the 
visitors  had  retired,  after  an  exchange  of  salutations.  They  were 
conducted  back  to  the  summer-house.  All  the  Jajianese  ministers 
soon  entered  and  resumed  their  places  around  the  table.  Refresh- 
ments were  served,  and  Mr.  Seward  was  informed  that  his  audience 
was  the  first  occasion  on  which  the  Mikado  has  completely  nnveiled 
himself  to  a  visitor.  ]^ot  only  the  prime-minister,  but  all  his  asso- 
ciates, discussed  with  Mr.  Seward  at  much  length  the  political  re- 
lations of  Japan  with  foreign  powers.  The  minister  desired  him 
to  take  notice  that  the  government,  in  dealing  with  the  vanquished 
Tycoon's  party  in  Japan,  at  the  close  of  the  late  revolution,  had 
copied  the  example  of  toleration  given  them  by  the  United  States. 


li^TERVIEW   WITH  THE  MIKADO.  75 

They  carefully  inquired  concerning  tlie  machinery  employed  in  tlie 
United  States  in  taking  the  decennial  census,  and  also  the  details 
of  the  system  of  collecting  and  disbursing  public  revenues. 

They  wrote  a  letter  on  the  spot,  addressed  to  their  ambassador  at 
Peldno-,  and,  delivering  it  to  Mr.  Seward,  solicited  his  aid  of  their 
interest  at  that  court.  Mr.  Seward  was  deeply  impressed  on  two 
points :  First,  that  although  the  administration  of  justice  in  Japan 
is  conducted  in  a  manner  ^videly  different  from  that  of  the  Western 
nations,  yet  that  the  public  mind  entertains  not  the  least  distrust 
of  its  impartiality.  Second,  that  the  administration  of  the  Mikado 
is  sincerely  emulous  and  progressive.  Again,  if  there  is  any  danger 
in  the  near  future,  it  will  arise,  not  from  a  retarding,  but  from  a 
more  rapid  acceptance  by  the  government  of  Western  ideas  and 
sentiments,  than  a  people  so  rude  can  at  once  understand. 

The  ministers  had  assigned  the  whole  day  for  the  high  consulta- 
tion. They  expressed  much  regret  when  Mr.  Seward  announced 
that  he  was  obliged  to  depart  at  the  earliest  moment  for  Yokohama, 
where  the  steamer  was  waiting.  "Waiving  invitations  to  examine 
the  citadel  and  the  imperial  palace  and  grounds,  Mr.  Seward  re- 
turned to  the  Consulate,  and  thence  proceeded  dovm.  the  bay, 
directly  to  this  steamer,  bound  for  Hiogo. 

A  box  followed  him  which  contained  all  the  cake,  fruit,  and  con- 
fectionery, which  remained  from  the  entertainment  at  the  Castle. 
The  ladies  noticed  that  the  varieties  of  cakes  were  not  merely  col- 
ored externally,  but  through  and  through — crimson,  yellow,  purple, 
and  indigo.     The  supply  sufficient  for  the  voyage  to  Shanghai. 

It  ought  not  to  mar  the  effect  of  the  Mikado's  courtesy,  if  we 
state  that  the  audience,  in  its  minutest  details,  was  projected  and 
perfected  in  the  Japanese  cabinet,  with  the  concurrence  of  Mr.  De 
Long.  All  European  governments,  and  even  that  of  the  United 
States,  adopt  a  similar  precaution  in  regard  to  official  executive 
audiences. 

Japan  has  especial  reasons  for  prudence.  The  empire  is  a  soli- 
tary planet,  that  has  remained  stationary  for  centuries,  until  now  it 
is  suddenly  brought  into  contact  with  constellations  which,  while 
they  shed  a  dazzling  light,  continually  threaten  destructive  colHsions. 


CHAPTER  III. 

FROM  YEDDO    TO  SHANGHAI. 

Hiogo. — The  Place  of  Massacre. — A  Japanese  Steamer. — The  Gulf  of  Osaka. — A  Harem 
on  a  Pic-nie. — The  City  of  Osaka. — The  Tycoon's  Castle. — Japanese  Troops. — 
Nagasaki. — Beautiful  Scenery. — Christians  of  Nagasaki. — Japanese  Character. — 
Departure  for  China. — Concluding  Keflections  on  Japan. 

Hiogo  (Kobe)^  Ifondau,  October  10th. — A  voyage  of  thirty-six 
hours,  in  which  night  and  rain  have  prevented  all  observation,  has 
brought  us  to  this  southeastern  port  on  the  island  of  ISTiphon.  The 
United  States  Consul,  Mr.  Stewart,  and  the  agent  of  the  Pacific 
Mail  Line,  came  on  board  in  the  early  morning.  They  were  sur- 
prised when  Mr.  Seward  pointed  out  to  them  with  minuteness  and 
accuracy  the  several  places  of  interest  in  the  port.  "  This,"  he  said 
"  is  the  European  settlement,  that  place  behind  it  the  native  town 
of  Hiogo :  the  road  which  divides  them  is  the  one  on  which  the 
Mikado's  army  was  moving  northward  at  the  time  when  it  fired 
upon  and  massacred  the  foreigners  in  1884  :  this  is  the  field  through 
which  the  foreigners  were  pursued  by  the  Japanese  soldiers  on  that 
occasion :  it  was  in  the  bay  here  on  our  right  that  the  natives 
massacred  the  French  naval  surveying  party  in  their  boats :  was 
it  not  in  the  building  which  I  see  on  that  hill  that  the  Mikado's 
officers,  wlio  were  condemned  to  death  for  those  atrocious  outrages, 
committed  hari-hari,  and  that  the  foreign  ministers  interposed 
after  seventeen  such  self-executions,  and  said,  '  It  is  enough  ? '  On 
this  knoll  is  the  place  where  the  off'enders  were  buried." 

The  official  reports  of  those  painful  transactions  which  Mr.  Van 


OSAKA  AND   HIOGO.  YY 

Yalkenburgli,  tlie  United  States  Minister,  made  to  the  Department 
of  State,  had  left  this  distinct  and  ineffaceable  impression  on  Mr. 
Seward's  mind.  It  is  five  years  since  those  massacres  occurred. 
We  now  find  that  the  people,  obeying  the  instinct  of  nationality, 
have  erected  a  monument  over  the  grave  of  each  of  those  victims, 
and  on  that  monument  have  recorded  his  voluntary  death  as  an  act 
of  civil  and  religious  martyrdom.  So  true  to  country  and  to  God 
are  the  impulses  of  our  common  nature  everywhere. 

Hiogo  is  twenty  miles  distant  from  Osaka,  and  bears  the  same 
relation  to  that  great  southern  metropolis  of  Japan  that  Yokohama 
bears  to  the  central  one  of  Yeddo.  Hiogo,  opened  quite  recently 
to  foreign  commerce,  is  not  especially  successful.  Since  the  opening 
of  Japan,  the  population  of  Yeddo  has  been  reduced  from  three 
millions  to  one  million,  chiefly  by  removals  to  Yokohama.  On  the 
contrary,  Osaka  has  not  materially  declined,  nor  has  Hiogo  consid- 
erably increased.  The  foreign  population  of  Hiogo  is  at  most  two 
hundred.  The  importance  of  its  harbor  is  due  to  its  double  advan- 
tages as  a  port  of  Osaka  and  a  gateway  to  the  Inland  Sea  of  Japan. 

October  Wth. — TVe  dined  yesterday  with  Mr.  Senter's  amiable 
family,  and  slept  in  the  Japanese  bungalow,  now  occupied  as  the 
Consulate,  by  the  side  of  its  pretty  lotus-garden.  Although  the 
lotus  has  been  held  sacred  from  time  immemorial  as  a  divine 
symbol  throughout  the  whole  East,  it  is  nevertheless  indigenous 
only  in  tropical  and  semi-tropical  climates.  "We  now  for  the  first 
time  see  in  perfection  on  its  native  soil  this  magnificent  flower,  of 
which,  "  whosoever  eateth  wishes  never  again  to  depart,  nor  to  see 
his  native  country,  if  it  groweth  not  there." 

Here  the  intelligent  Japanese  governor  passed  two  hours  with 
Mr.  Seward,  explaining  the  system  of  provincial  administration, 
which  seems  very  eftective.  He  learns  also  that  education  of  all 
classes  is  compulsory,  and  that  the  schools  are  maintained  by  taxa- 
tion, which  is  remitted  in  behalf  of  the  poor. 

We  went,  this  morning,  on  board  a  small  coasting  steamer, 
which  was  built  in  the  United  States  for  Japanese  owners,  and  is 
managed  exclusively  by  natives.      The  gulf  of   Osaka    has  pictu- 


T8 


JAPAN",   CHINA,   AND  COCHIN"  CHINA. 


resqne  shores,  thickly  studded  with  villages,  clustering  at  the  water's 
edge.  The  sloping  hills  arc  terraced  and  irrigated,  and  their  sum- 
mits are  planted  with  forests.  The  Temple  of  the  Moon,  standing 
on  the  highest  peak  of  the  mountain,  reflected  the  morning  sunlight 


TEMPLE    AT  OSAKA. 


from  gilded  roofs,  resting  on  snow-white  columns.  The  moon  in 
Japan  is  a  masculine  deity.  Is  this  exceptional  idea  due  to  the 
native  jealousy  of  the  gentle  sex  ?     Or  is  it  owing  to  the  fact  that 


A   HAREM   ON   A  PICNIC.  79 

it  is  a  man's  face  and  not  a  woman's  that  is  seen  in  tliat  benignant 
orb  ?     Quien  sahe  ? 

It  is  the  bar  at  Osaka  which  forces  the  ocean-trade  to  a  harbor 
so  distant  as  Hiogo.  Our  comitrjman,  Admiral  Bell,  lost  his  life 
two  years  ago,  in  sounding  it.  Our  steamer  could  not  cross,  though 
drawing  only  four  feet. 

Osaka,  as  early  as  the  sixteenth  century,  became  a  great  com- 
mercial city.  Its  temples,  surpassing  those  of  Yeddo  in  nnmber, 
vie  with  those  of  spiritual  Miako.  As  we  approached  the  bar,  we 
saw  a  gay  Japanese  yacht,  of  perhaps  two  hundred  and  fifty  tons, 
moving  slowly  out  to  sea  under  a  light  wind.  The  sails  were 
quaint,  like  the  form  of  the  vessel  they  impelled,  which  was  brilliant 
with  scarlet  and  blue  paint  and  gilding.  A  daimio  sat  at  the  stern 
on  the  upper  deck,  gorgeously  arrayed  in  silks  and  lacquer,  sur- 
rounded by  numerous  retainers  and  a  bevy  of  highly-painted  and 
elegantly-dressed  young  women,  who  were  entertaining  him  with 
a  concert  of  guitars,  flutes,  and  drums.  Manifestly  the  daimio  was 
giving  his  harem  a  picnic. 

We  were  transferred  here  to  a  small,  neat,  flat-bottomed  bamboo 
barge,  with  a  canopy  overhead  and  a  deck  covered  with  mats,  in 
which  we  floated  over  the  bar,  and  up  to  the  great  sea-wall  of  the 
city. 

The  confluence  of  two  rivers  with  the  sea  makes  the  harbor  of 
Osaka,  like  that  of  Charleston.  The  rivers  are  formed  into  canals, 
and  connected  at  convenient  intervals  by  cross-canals.  Venice  is 
not  more  noticeable  for  its  gondolas  and  barges,  nor  Amsterdam 
for  its  pleasure-boats,  than  Osaka  for  its  picturesque  shalloj)s  cov- 
ered with  bright  awnings  of  various  colors.  It  is  perhaps  from 
the  amusements  of  the  regatta  that  the  women  in  Osaka  have  ac- 
quired the  fame  of  being  the  prettiest  in  the  empire.  Time  served 
us  to  traverse  only  three  or  four  of  the  thirty  or  forty  canals,  but 
sufiicient  to  enable  us  to  reach  the  more  important  monuments  and 
institutions  of  the  metropolis,  to  notice  the  regularity  of  the  streets, 
the  grace  and  lightness  of  the  hundred  cedar  bridges,  and  to  wonder 
at  the  immense  traffic  carried  on  by  families  who  dwell  in  the 
vessels  they  navigate.     The  wealth  and  enterprise  of  Japan  being 

8 


80 


JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 


in  the  southern  part  of  the  empii-e,  Osaka  is  the  domestic  main 
empoi'ium. 

While,  for  centuries,  state  policy  required  the  daimios  to  reside 
a  part  of  each  year  with  their  armed  retainers  at  Yeddo,  the  po- 
litical capital,  the  same  daimios  made  their  metropolitan  homes  in 
commercial  Osaka.  Here,  on  the  banks  of  the  canals,  they  erected 
palaces,  with  storehouses  and  wharves  and  offices.  Here  they  re- 
ceived their  rents  in  kind,  and  exchanged  them  in  trade. 

Between  these  palaces  the  canals  are  lined  with  cheaply -built 
dwellings,  two  stories  high,  with  a  veranda  around  the  first  story. 


^^^ 


mmm^m4^<f^x»^ 


STREET  IN    OSAKA. 


The  lower  story  is  a  mercantile  convenience,  being  washed  with 
the  tides  and  floods.  The  people  seen  in  the  streets  here,,,  as  well 
as  elsewhere  in  Japan,  wear  wooden  shoes  and  dress  coarsely. 
The  nudity,  so  frequent  at  the  north,  becomes  here  more  common 
and  offensive.  Crowds  followed  us  with  a  curiosity  which  shoM's 
that  few  foreigners  visit  Osaka.  ^Notwithstanding  the  mean  appear- 
ance of  dwellings  and  people,  the  city  contrasts  favorably  with 


THE  CASTLE   OF  OSAKA.  81 

Yeddo,  in  show  of  prosperity  and  affluence.  Some  of  the  temples 
are  built  within  the  areas  of  the  princely  palaces.  More  commonly, 
however,  they  are  independent  and  sj^acious,  and,  like  the  palaces, 
accessible  through  canals  and  basins.  They  are  on  the  same  model 
with  those  at  Yeddo,  but  more  lavishly  ornamented  with  allegorical 
carving,  and  statuary  in  granite  and  bronze.  Men  are  seldom  seen 
in  or  about  the  temples  in  Japan,  but  woman,  poor,  meek  and  rag- 
ged, though  forbidden,  steals  in  there,  reverently  paying  her  devo- 
tion to  the  gods  and  pitifully  asking  alms.  How  could  woman  en- 
dure existence  anywhere  on  earth  without  the  solaces  of  religion  ? 

"  From  all  ancienty  to  the  present  time,"  as  a  stump-orator,  we 
once  heard,  expressed  it,  the  Japanese  have  made  their  irregular 
and  grotesque  coins  wnth  the  use  only  of  the  hammer.  The  govern- 
ment has  just  now  established  a  mint  at  Osaka,  with  machinery  of 
the  latest  invention,  and  equal,  it  is  claimed,  to  the  Philadelphia 
Mint.  Here  they  are  making  new  coins  similar  in  form  and  de- 
vice to  those  of  the  Western  nations,  the  value  being  based  on  sub- 
divisions of  the  Mexican  dollar. 

Livy  has  given  us  w^hat  he  says  was  the  speech  of  Romulus 
when  he  had  founded  Rome:  "If  all  the  strength  of  cities  lay  in 
the  height  of  their  ramparts  or  the  depths  of  their  ditches,  we  should 
have  great  reason  to  be  in  fear  for  that  which  we  have  now  built." 
The  Japanese  might  be  excused  if  they  should  reverse  this  senti- 
ment, and  speak  with  great  confidence  of  the  security  of  the  empire 
derived  from  ramparts  and  ditches.  As  with  Yeddo,  so  with  Osaka. 
Its  boast  is  its  castle,  an  imperial  residence  and  fortress  of  mikados 
and  tycoons.  We  tried  ineffectually  to  obtain  a  measurement  of 
some  of  the  granite  blocks  of  this  structure.  We  think  it  safe,  how- 
ever, to  say,  that  one  of  them  is  thirty  feet  long,  fifteen  feet  high 
and  five  feet  thick.  JSTo  one  knows  where,  when  or  how,  such  im- 
mense stones  were  riven  at  the  quarry,  and  brought  to  the  summit 
of  the  lofty  hill,  which  overlooks  the  city  of  Osaka.  The  Tycoon  in 
the  late  civil  war,  however,  took  possession  of  the  castle  with  his 
forces,  only  to  find  it  a  prison,  and  insecure  at  that.  He  was  dis- 
lodged by  the  Mikado's  army,  and  made  his  escape  on  a  United 
States  steamer.   Before  leaving  the  citadel,  he  destroyed  its  defensive 


82  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

works,  so  as  to  render  it  unavailable  to  the  conqueror.  ISTow  used 
as  a  camp  of  instruction,  it  is  as  jealously  closed  against  visitors  as 
the  castle  at  Yeddo.  Instructions  having  come  down  from  the 
capital  to  the  Governor  here,  as  well  as  to  the  one  at  Hiogo,  to 
show  consideration  to  Mr.  Seward,  we  were  conducted  through  the 
castle,  and  allowed  to  witness  the  drill,  and  at  the  same  time  were 
honored  with  a  serenade  from  the  trumpeters,  which  consisted  of 
European  artillery  and  cavalry  calls  jumbled  together  on  French 
horns.  The  din  and  discord  may  be  imagined.  The  bronze-faced 
native  Japanese  troops,  lower  than  European  in  stature,  and  bow- 
legged,  but  dressed  in  French  uniforms,  recalled  our  recollections 
of  the  first  organization  of  negro  troops  in  the  late  civil  war.  The 
Japanese  are  not  less  docile  and  orderly,  and  they  went  through 
evolutions  and  drill,  according  to  French  tactics,  commendably. 

The  Japanese  umbrellas  are  the  best  as  they  are  the  cheapest  in 
the  world,  but  they  could  give  us  no  protection  from  the  rain-storm 
which  overtook  us  in  the  dilapidated  castle.  Captain  Kinder's 
family  being  the  only  European  one  in  Osaka,  took  us  in  and  dried 
our  clothes,  and  gave  us  all  we  had  time  to  take,  "  a  hasty  plate  of 
soup,"  Wlien  we  reached  our  yacht,  black  night  with  high  winds 
shut  out  from  us  the  beautiful  gulf-shores,  and  so  passed  away 
Osaka,  to  be  seen  no  more  by  us,  for  we  have  taken  care  not  to  eat 
of  the  "  fruit  of  destiny,"  the  lotus.  The  heaving  of  the  steamer 
on  the  now  roughened  sea  was  uncomfortable,  but  the  tossing  and 
pitching  of  the  small  baat  which  conveyed  us  fi'om  the  yacht  to  the 
side-ladder  of  the  New  York  was  dangerous  and  frightful. 

Nagasaki,  October  \Zth. — As  Hiogo  commands  the  southeast, 
so  ISTagasaki  commands  the  northwest  entrance  of  the  Inland  Sea. 
That  sea  is  a  tortuous  passage,  flowing  between  the  North  Pacific 
Ocean  on  the  east  and  the  Yellow  Sea  or  Straits  of  Corea  on  the 
west  coast  of  Japan,  separating  the  northern  island  of  Niphon  from 
the  southern  islands  of  Toksima  and  Kiusiu.  How  and  when  was 
this  channel  made?  Were  the  three  mountain-islands  which  it 
separates  once  compact  land,  and  did  the  ocean  force  its  passage 
through?     Was  all  Japan  once  submerged,  and  were  the  islands 


ENTRANCE   TO   NAGASAKI. 


83 


thrown  up  in  their  present  form  ?     "WTio  can  say  ?    Not  we.     Per- 
haps Agassiz  might.    We  must  content  ourselves  with  writing  that, 


ENTBAXCE  TO  NAGASAKI. 


like  most  inland  seas,  this  of  Japan  is  marvellously  beautiful. 
Four  hundred  miles  long,  of  varjang  width,  everywhere  deep,  it 
washes  the  shores  of  the  main  islands  in  some  places,  while  in 
others  it  is  broken  into  twenty  narrower  channels  which  break  on 
the  shores  of  uncounted  lesser  islands.  In  this  the  Inland  Sea  re- 
sembles our  own  Lake  of  the  Woods,  which  takes  its  strange  name 
from  the  fact  that  the  island-surface  enclosed  within  its  shores 
exceeds  in  area  the  water-surface  of  the  lake.  These  islands  of  the 
Inland  Sea  are  said  to  be  three  thousand,  but  we  are  inclined  to 
think  that  islands  in  groups  like  these  are  never  accurately  counted. 
Everybody  speaks  of  the  Thousand  Islands  in  the  St.  Lawrence, 
without  remembering  that  they  are  reckoned  at  eighteen  hundi'ed. 


84 


JAPAJ^,   CniXA,   AND  COCHIN  CHINA. 


The  cliannel  twists  around  and  among  the  islands  in  all  direc- 
tions, so  that  the  headlands  which  we  pass  seem  as  fleeting  as  the 
clouds,  producing  ever-varying  scenery.  During  one  hour,  we  are 
making  our  gloomy  way  under  the  deep  shadow  of  a  naked  preci- 
pice four  thousand  feet  high.  In  the  next,  we  are  passing  terraced 
hill-sides,  covered  with  sunlit  orchards,  flowery  plains  and  fields,  and 
forests  in  which  the  bamboo,  the  tulip  and  the  cypress  commingle. 
It  seems  as  if  the  busy  population  of  the  whole  empire  has  clustered 
on  these  romantic  shores.      Manufacturing  towns  alternate  with 


NAGASAKI  HAEBOE. 


fishing-villages,  and  every  nook  is  filled  with  quaint  and  miniature 
shij)ping. 

Night  set  in,  and  the  bell  summoned  us  to  dinner  as  we  were 
beginning  to  round  a  jutting  promontory  of  the  western  shore. 
Shall  we  ever  forgive  Mr.  Eandall  for  beguiling  us  with  his  humor- 
ous stories  until  we  were  brought  suddenly  to  our  feet,  by  the 


THE   HARBOPw   OF   NAGxVSAKL 


85 


dropping  of  the  anchor,  and  the  firing  of  a  gun,  which  announced 
to  us  that  we  had  arrived  in  port  'i 

A  moonlight  view  of  Nagasaki ;  fitting  sequel  of  a  two-days' 
voyage  through  the  Inland  Sea.  We  forgive  Mr.  Randall ;  the 
first  view  of  ]S'agasaki  ought  to  be  by  moonlight.  The  bay  is  small ; 
we  almost  know,  without  being  told,  every  object  around  us.  These 
A^essels  on  the  larboard  are  Japanese  ships-of-war.  This  steamer 
directly  before  us  is  a  German  man-of-war ;  this  ship  on  our  star- 
board quarter,  with  its  black  funnels  and  its  stubbed  masts,  is  the 
British  admiral's  flag-ship ;  and  this  long,  narrow  steamer  is  a  Rus- 
sian corvette.  Beyond  the  area  thus  occupied  by  armed  vessels 
are  two  American  merchant-ships  and  forty  awkward  but  sea- 
worthy Chinese  junks.     On  encircling  hills,  which  rise  two  tliou- 


TEMPLB  OF  BTTDDHA  AT  NAGASAKI. 


86 


JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 


sand  feet  out  of  the  sea,  are  the  temples  and  groves  of  Buddha. 
Those  dark  shades  below  them  are  hanging  gardens  in  which  the 
consulates  and  the  merchants'  residences  are  embowered.  This 
ravine  which  stretches  from  the  shore  upward  on  the  hill-side  is 
the  ancient  native  town ;  this  quay  on  our  right  is  the  seat  of  active 
trade ;  this  island  just  before  us,  hardly  broader  than  a  flat-boat,  is 
the  famous  Decim^i,  for  two  hundred  years  the  mart  and  the  prison, 
the  boast  and  the  shame  of  the  Dutch  traders  in  Japan  ;  those  ter- 
raced hill-sides  opposite  the  town  are  the  city  of  the  dead  ;  and  this 


■VIEW   OF   UECUIA. 


high,  conical  rock,  which  seems  to  close  the  passage  to  the  sea,  is 
Papenburg,  memorable  as  the  scene  of  the  martyrdom  of  the  early 
Jesuit  teachers  and  converts  in  Japan. 

What  does  this  scene  want  to  perfect  its  magic  ?  Only  music ! 
Instant  with  the  thought,  the  band  on  the  German  frigate  de- 
livers its  national  hymn,  "  Des  Deutsche  Vaterland  ;  "  then  come 
swelling  forth  from  the  British  flag-ship  the  inspiring  notes  of 
"  God  save  the  Queen ; "  and  these  only  die  away,  when  the  solemn 


THE  JESUITS   m  JAPAK  87 

national  anthem  of  Russia,  "  Thou  pious  and  gentle  leader,  shield 
of  the  church  of  believers,  God  be  the  protector  and  defender  of 
our  great  Czar,"  grander  than  all,  rolls  over  the  sea. 

Is  not  this  glorious  concert,  under  the  flags  of  these  great  Chris- 
tian nations,  in  these  distant  and  lonely  waters,  suggestive  ?  Mr. 
Seward  answered,  "Yes,  but  deceptive."  The  German  is  here 
lying  in  wait  for  his  French  enemy ;  the  British  admiral  is  here  to 
intimidate  the  semi-barbarous  races ;  and  the  Russian  admiral  is 
guarding  the  eastern  gate  of  his  master's  empire,  which  towers  be- 
hind and  above  Asiatic  and  European  states  on  both  continents. 
So  it  is  that  jealousy  and  ambition  breathe  in  the  notes  of  this  ma- 
jestic serenade. 

October  lUh. — It  is  because  we  cannot  swim  that  we  fear  the 
deep.  It  is  because  we  delight  in  climbing  that  we  admire  the  high. 
While  the  flat  is  dull,  the  circle  is  our  chosen  form  for  the  beautiful. 
Thus  the  amphitheatre,  with  its  circular  and  lofty  walls,  was  adopted 
for  the  Pantheon  as  well  as  for  the  Coliseum ;  though  it  has  since 
been  sometimes  discarded  from  the  temple,  it  remains  nevertheless 
universally  associated  with  the  stage  and  the  hippodrome.  If  we 
must  live  in  a  town,  give  us  one  which,  like  Nagasaki,  is  an  amphi- 
theatre, whose  base  is  the  sea,  and  whose  towering  walls  are  green 
and  terraced  mountains.  It  was  under  an  inspiration  lilce  this  that 
Peter  on  the  mount  said :  "  Master,  it  is  good  for  us  to  be  here. 
Let  us  make  three  tabernacles,  one  for  thee,  one  for  Moses,  and  one 
for  Elias."  The  preaching  of  Christianity  here  by  St.  Francis 
Xavier,  in  1549,  was  followed  by  such  success  that,  within  fifty 
years  afterward,  Nagasaki  was  surrendered  by  its  native  prince  to 
the  Portuguese,  and  became  at  once  the  see  of  an  episcopate,  and 
an  emporium  of  Portuguese  trade.  But  Xavier  little  apprehended 
that  the  Order  of  Jesus,  which  he  was  introducing,  would  become 
so  arrogant  and  ambitious  as  to  contest  with  the  native  sovereign 
absolute  dominion  within  the  empire.  The  Portuguese  Chris- 
tians thus  becoming  obnoxious  to  the  government,  all  foreigners 
were  within  the  first  hundred  years  excluded  from  Japan,  under 
pain  of  death,  while  persecutions  more  cruel  than  those  of  Nero 


88  JAPAN",    CHIXA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

were  visited  on  tlie  teacliers  and  converts  alike.  A  few  Protestant 
mercliants  from  Amsterdam,  renouncing  their  religion,  joined  the 
government  in  the  persecution  of  the  Christians,  and  were  per- 
mitted, under  humiliating  surveillance,  to  replace  the  Portuguese 
at  !N^agasaki.  This  truly  pitiable  colony  was  found  here  on  the 
arrival  of  the  United  States  squadron  in  1853.  It  was  understood, 
at  that  time,  that  the  Christian  faith  had  been  effectually  extii-pated 
by  the  massacres  at  Papenburg.  The  world  was  astonished,  how- 
ever, in  1867,  by  a  discovery  that  the  Christian  religion  was  still 
living  in  the  province  of  JN^agasaki,  and  that  a  large  number  of 
natives  were  condemned  to  death  or  servitude  for  their  cLandestine 
adherence  to  that  faith.  The  Western  nations  interposed  in  their 
behalf.  The  government  contented  itself  with  forcibly  deporting 
twenty-seven  hundred  of  the  offending  Christians  from  their  homes, 
and  distributing  them  through  the  more  distant  provinces  of  the 
empire.  This  new  persecution  being  thus  arrested,  it  is  manifestly 
the  intention  of  the  government  now  to  adopt  the  principle  of  uni- 
versal toleration. 

It  would  be  pleasant  to  dwell  on  the  hospitalities  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Mangum,  and  on  the  courtesies  of  the  foreign  fleets. 

Yelloio  Sea,  October  loth. — Leaving  Nagasaki  yesterday  morn- 
ing, we  carefully  examined  Coal  Island  and  the  other  islands  which 
close  the  mao-nificent  harbor.  IN^or  did  we  omit  to  notice  that 
marvellous  rock,  which,  having  been  dropped  nobody  knows  how 
or  from  where,  is  lodged  like  a  wedge  between  two  naked  natural 
abutments.  Our  parting  view  of  Japan  was  a  sunset  glimpse  of 
the  Goto  Group,  the  western  outpost  of  the  Island  Empire. 

It  is  hardly  more  satisfactory  to  quit  Japan  after  a  residence 
of  only  twenty  days,  than  it  would  have  been  to  leave  it  altogether 
un visited ;  nevertheless,  there  is  Peking  before  us,  "  a  bourn  from 
which  no  traveller"  can  "return"  later  than  J^ovember,  and  so 
we  must  onward.  Let  us  set  down  our  memories,  such  as  they 
are,  while  thev  are  fresh. 

Although  society  in  Japan  is  divided,  as  it  is  in  every  other  coun- 
try, into  high  classes  and  low  classes,  classes  wearing  two  swords, 


JAPANESE  OIVILIZATIOF.  89 

classes  wearing  one  sword,  and  classes  wearing  no  swords  at  all,  yet 
the  people  are  universally  docile  and  amiable.  We  saw  not  one  act 
of  rudeness,  and  heard  not  one  word  of  ill-temper,  in  the  country. 
Heaven  knows  that,  in  the  arrogant  assumption  by  foreigners  of 
superiority  among  them,  the  people  have  provocations  enough  for 
both !  One  of  the  Japanese  ambassadors  to  the  United  States  in 
1867  was  robbed  at  Baltimore  of  a  richly-mounted  sword.  Neither 
he  nor  his  government  made  any  complaint.  Mr.  Seward  for- 
tunately recovered  and  restored  it,  with  a  national  apology.  Foreign 
residents  in  Japanese  cities  are  often  timid,  jealous,  and  suspicious. 
Some  are  prone  to  exaggerate  inconveniences  into  offences.  Others 
are  dogmatic  and  contemptuous.  Even  one  of  the  most  generous 
of  American  citizens,  when  driving  Mr.  Seward  through  the  streets 
of  Yeddo,  could  not  forbear  from  cracking  his  whip  over  the  bare 
heads  of  the  native  crowd.  Mr.  Seward  endured  this  flourish 
silently,  but  he  vehemently  and  earnestly  implored  his  impetuous 
friend  to  spare  a  litter  of  sleeping  puppies  which  lay  in  the  way. 
"Women  and  children  shrieked  as  they  caught  up  the  mangled 
brutes  behind  the  carriage-wheels,  but  the  relentless  charioteer 
only  said :  "  It  will  never  do  to  stop  for  such  things ;  let  them  learn 
to  keep  their  streets  clear."  Intimidation  and  menace  naturally 
provoke  anger  and  resentment.  European  and  American  fleets  are 
always  hovering  over  the  coasts  of  Japan.  Though  the  eye  of  the 
Japanese  is  long  and  curved,  it  sees  as  clearly  as  the  foreign  eye, 
which  is  round  and  straight.  Human  nature  is  the  same  in  all 
races.  Who  could  wonder  if  the  Asiatics  fail  to  love,  where  they 
are  taught  only  to  fear  ? 

It  would  be  manifestly  unfair  to  judge  the  Japanese  by  the 
standard  of  Western  civilization.  Measured  by  the  Oriental  one,  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  it  excels  the  Asiatic  states  to  whose  system  it 
belongs.  The  affections  of  family  and  kindred  seem  as  strong  here 
as  elsewhere.  There  is  no  neglect  of  children  ;  there  is  no  want  of 
connubial  care ;  no  lack  of  parental  love  or  filial  devotion.  Nor  is  it 
to  be  forgotten  that,  in  regard  to  domestic  morals,  we  are  giving 
the  Japanese  some  strange  instructions.  On  this  very  ship  on 
which  we  have  embarked,  there  is  a  German  merchant  who,  after  a 


90  JAPAN",   CHINA,   AN'D   COCHm  CHIXA. 

short  but  successful  career  in  Yokoliama,  is  returning  ricii  to  his 
native  land ;  with  him  his  child,  a  pretty  brunette  boj,  two  years 
old.  The  father  brings  him  to  us  to  be  caressed.  "We  ask,  "Where 
is  the  Japanese  mother ? "  "I  have  left  her  behind ;  she  would 
not  be  fit  to  bring  up  the  boy,  or  to  be  seen  herself  in  a  European 
country." 

Iso  one  denies  that  the  Japanese  have  both  the  courage  and 
the  politeness  which  belong  to  an  heroic  people.  They  are  ac- 
cused of  practising  fraud,  cunning,  and  cruelty  in  war.  Are 
they  more  vicious  in  this  respect  than  other  pagan  or  even  Chris- 
tian nations  ?  Do  not  the  records  of  war  on  om*  own  soil  contain 
a  melancholy  catalogue  of  similar  crimes  ?  Are  not  the  pages 
which  record  IS'apoleon's  great  campaigns  sullied  by  deeds  alike 
unworthy  of  our  race?  The  Japanese  are  sanguinary  in  civil 
war.  Are  they  more  so  than  the  French  were  in  their  first 
great  Revolution  ? 

The  painstaking  culture  which  extends  from  the  water's  edge  to 
the  mountain-verge ;  the  tedious  manipulation  practised  in  mech- 
anism ;  and  the  patient  di-udgery  of  the  coolies  in  the  cities,  in  labor 
elsewhere  performed  by  domestic  animals,  show  that  the  Japanese 
are  industrious.  Though  the  empire  has,  from  its  earliest  period, 
been  isolated  from  the  civilized  world,  yet  the  silks  of  that  country 
were  found  among  the  richest  freights  of  Venice.  A  Japanese 
bazaar  is  seen  in  every  modern  European  city;  and  there  is  no 
drawing-room,  museum,  or  palace  in  the  world,  which  is  completely 
furnished  without  Japanese  fabrics. 

They  have  no  legislature,  yet  they  have  uniform  laws,  and  these 
laws  are  legibly  inscribed  on  tablets  at  every  cross-road  and  market- 
place. Although  science  and  literature  in  the  West  have  borrowed 
little  or  nothing  from  these  islands,  the  Japanese  are  nevertheless 
a  reading  and  writing  people.  We  hardly  know  whether  Boston, 
Philadelphia,  or  'New  York  shop-windows  display  greater  number 
or  variety  of  maps,  books,  charts  and  pictures,  than  the  stalls  of 
Yeddo,  Osaka,  or  Miako. 

Japan  is  populous,  whether  we  allow  it  twenty  millions,  as 
some  of  our  missionaries  do,  or  fifty  millions,  as  the  prime-minister 


A   RELIGIOUS   PEOPLE.  91 

claimed  in  his  conversation  witli  Mr.  Seward.  N'evertlieless,  men- 
dicity, though  unrestrained  by  law,  is  less  offensive  than  in  Naples, 
or  even  in  New  York. 

It  would  be  a  curious  study  to  inquire  how  and  when  the  se- 
vere feudal  model  of  the  middle  ages  of  Europe  obtained  a  place 
in  Japan,  or  how  it  has  continued  so  long  among  a  people  so  mer- 
curial, and  yet  so  thoughtful.  While  in  theory  the  Mikado  is  sov- 
ereign proprietor,  the  whole  domain  practically  belongs  to  the 
daimios,  who  are  rich.  The  revenues  of  many  of  them  are  not  less 
than  the  public  revenues  of  some  of  the  States  of  our  Federal  Union. 
Though  the  peasantry  are  poor,  we  nowhere  heard  a  complaint 
against  rents  or  taxes,  or  the  price  of  labor.  Moreover,  the  Japan- 
ese, while  they  encourage  immigration,  never  emigrate.  We  infer 
from  these  facts  that,  if  not  a  happy  people,  they  are  at  least  a 
contented  one. 

They  were  a  religious  people  when  they  accepted  the  Mikado, 
and  gave  him  their  reverence.  They  must  have  been  a  religious 
people,  when  they  accepted  from  the  Mikado  the  teachings  of  the 
Sintu  sect ;  they  must  have  been  a  religious  people,  when  the  doc- 
trines of  Buddha  supplanted  so  generally  the  dreamy  mysticisms  of 
the  earlier  faith.  Xavier  found  them  a  religious  people,  willing 
to  accept  the  teachings  of  Christianity.  But  the  religious  age  in 
Japan  has  passed.  Confucian  philosophy  has  undermined  all  myth- 
ological creeds,  and  left  the  Japanese  a  nation  of  doubters.  Gov- 
ernment now  makes  no  provision  for  the  support  of  religious  orders. 
Their  revenues,  derived  from  ancient  foundations,  are  diminishing. 
The  priesthood  is  as  inoffensive  as  it  is  poor.  It  may  be  expected 
that  under  this  toleration  the  Christian  faith  will  now,  for  the  first 
time,  come  into  public  consideration  in  Japan  in  the  way  it  ought 
to  come,  that  is  to  say,  in  connection  with  the  science,  literature, 
and  art,  and  the  political,  moral,  and  social  institutions  of  the 
Western  nations. 

The  Japanese  are  less  an  imitative  people  than  an  inquiring  one. 
They  are  not,  however,  excitable  concerning  the  events  of  the  day, 
but  rather  diligent  in  studying  what  is  useful.  All  their  dramatic 
representations  are  didactic ;  and,  though  they  have  a  fondness  for 


92  JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

legerdemain,  they  enjoy  it  not  because  it  is  amusing,  but  because  it 
makes  them  tliinlc  from  power  to  product,  from  cause  to  effect. 

The  most  unpropitious  feature  of  Japanese  society  is  the  gross- 
ness  of  the  popular  sense  in  regard  to  woman.  Among  the  com- 
mon people  neither  sex  maintains  decency  in  dress,  and  they  use 
the  public  bathing-houses  promiscuously.  In  Japan,  as  elsewhere 
throughout  the  East,  there  indeed  is  marriage,  but  it  is  marriage 
without  the  rights  and  responsibilities  of  that  relation.  This  de- 
basement of  woman  has  tainted  and  corrupted  the  whole  state. 
We  are  obliged  to  conclude  that  domestic  virtue  has  not  a  promi- 
nent place  in  the  morals  of  Japan,  although  some  glimpses  which 
we  have  had  of  life  in  the  upper  classes  have  inclined  us  to  believe 
that  among  them  vice  is  not  altogether  free  from  restraint. 

Japanese  history  derives  many  of  the  institutions  and  much  of 
the  science,  literature  and  morals  of  the  country,  not  from  China, 
but  from  ancient  Corea,  which  seems  to  have  taken  precedence  of 
China  in  civilization,  as  the  Pelasgian  civilization  took  precedence 
of  the  Grecian.  The  Japanese  may,  however,  be  considered  as  a 
distinct  and  independent  Mongolian  race,  which  has  matured  its 
own  civilization,  without  having  been  deeply  affected  by  intrusion 
from  any  quarter.  In  this  respect  the  Japanese  seem  to  have  en- 
joyed a  fortune  like  that  of  the  Aztecs  of  Mexico.  That  people 
had  developed  a  unique  civilization,  and  were  maturing  it,  when 
they  came  into  conflict  with  European  nations.  The  Mexican 
nation  went  down  under  the  violence  of  the  shock,  and  altogether 
disappeared.  The  Japanese  had  in  like  manner  effected  and 
were  maturing  a  civilization  of  their  own  when  they  were 
reached  by  the  "Western  nations.  More  advanced  than  the  Aztecs, 
they  more  clearly  apprehended  the  danger  of  the  contact,  and  with 
gi'eat  promptness  and  decision  they  effectually  resisted  and  defeated 
European  intervention.  Having  thus  isolated  themselves,  they 
remained  so  nearly  three  hundred  years.  If  they  did  not  advance 
during  that  time,  they  did  not  fall  back.  That  isolation,  however, 
has  at  last  come  to  an  end ;  steam,  the  printing-press,  and  the 
electric  telegraph,  have  brought  the  Western  nations  on  all  the 
shores  of  Japan.     It  is  manifest  that  the  two  distinct  and  widely- 


PROSPECTS   OF  JAPAK  93 

different  civilizations  cannot  continue  in  sucli  near  contact.  The 
great  problem  now  is,  whether  the  European  civilization  can  be 
extended  over  Japan,  without  the  destruction,  not  merely  of  the 
political  institutions  of  the  country,  but  of  the  Japanese  nation 
itself.  The  Japanese  are  practically  defenceless  against  the  West- 
ern States,  If  they  are  to  be  brought  completely  into  the  society 
of  those  nations,  it  must  either  be  by  the  application  of  force,  or  by 
that  of  persuasion  and  encouragement.  The  interests  of  both  re- 
quire that  the  latter  mode  should  be  adopted,  but  it  yet  remains 
to  be  seen  whether  Western  civilization  has  reached  such  a  moral 
plane  as  to  secure  its  voluntary  and  peaceful  adoption. 

There  is  much  of  discouragement  in  the  prospect.  Few  station- 
ary or  declining  nations  have  been  regenerated  by  the  intervention 
of  states  more  highly  civilized.  Most  such  have  perished  under  the 
shock.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  some  reasons  for  hope.  Man- 
kind seem  at  last  to  have  risen  equally  above  the  theory  that  uni- 
versal conquest  is  beneficent,  and  above  the  theory  that  it  is  pos- 
sible. Commerce  has  largely  taken  the  place  of  war,  and  it  is  now 
universally  felt  that  interest  and  humanity  go  hand  in  hand.  It  is 
the  distinction  of  the  United  States,  and  we  may  hope  fortunate  for 
Japan,  that  they  have  come  to  the  front  of  the  Western  states  as 
tutors  of  the  decaying  Asiatic  nations. 

If  the  tutorship  of  the  United  States  in  Japan  is  to  be  made 
successful,  it  must  be  based  on  deeper  and  broader  principles  of 
philanthropy  than  have  heretofore  been  practised  in  the  intercourse 
of  nations — a  philanthropy  which  shall  recognize  not  merely  the 
distinction  of  strength  and  power  between  nations,  but  the  duties 
of  magnanimity,  moderation  and  humanity — a  philanthropy  which 
shall  not  be  content  with  sending  armies  or  navies  to  compel,  but 
which  shall  send  teachers  to  instruct,  and  establish  schools  on  the 
American  system,  in  which  philosophy,  politics  and  morals,  as  well 
as  religious  faith,  are  taught,  with  just  regard  to  their  influences  in 
social  and  domestic  life. 


CHAPTER  TV. 

TUB  COASl    OF  CHIXA. 

Woosung. — U.  S.  Ship  Colorado. — Shanghai. — European  "Concessions." — ^A  Mandarin 
Procession. — Chi-Tajen  and  Sun-Tajen. — European  and  Chinese  CiviHzation. — For- 
eign Prejudices  against  the  Chinese. — The  Shan  Tung. — The  Yellow  Sea. — The  News 
from  France.— Chee-Poo,  the  Newport  of  China. — A  Rough  Voyage. 

Woosung,  October  17th. — A  respite  from  politics,  pliilantliropy 
and  morals.  Why  should  we  not  allow  ourselves  to  see  things  in 
the  natural  way,  not  to  say  that  there  is  little  more  to  be  learned 
of  the  nature  of  the  millstone,  by  looking  into  it,  than  there  is  by 
studvina:  its  surface  ? 

A  great  ocean-sight  was  reserved  for  us  on  the  Yellow  Sea. 
Just  at  sunrise  this  morning,  unnumbered  whales  appeared  off  the 
larboard  bow,  first  throwing  up  glittering  fountains  of  spray,  then 
rolling  their  great,  glossy,  black  backs  upward,  then  with  their  huge 
forked  tails  waving  adieu  as  they  plunged  under  the  waves.  The 
shoal  waters  of  the  Chinese  coast  have  the  hue  of  the  Missouri,  and 
give  the  Yellow  Sea  its  name. 

We  have  crossed  the  great  estuary  of  the  Yang-tse-kiang,  and 
arrived  at  Woosung,  the  outer  haven  of  Shanghai,  fourteen  miles 
below  that  city.  The  country  is  on  all  sides  a  low  plain,  without 
landmark.  Only  three  days  ago,  we  left  Japan,  green  as  if  it  were 
June  ;  here  the  fields  are  dry  and  brown.  AYe  have  October  with- 
out its  mellowness,  and  yet  Shanghai  is  only  one  degree  south  of 
Nagasaki.  Are  islands  always  warmer  and  more  genial  than  con- 
tinental shores?      Did   Sancho  Panza  understand  this  when   he 


CO 

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iilililB 


THE    "CONCESSIOl^"   AT   SHANGHAI.  95 

stipulated  for  an  island  instead  of  a  government  on  the  main- 
land ? 

Many  American  and  European  mercliant-sliips  are  riding  at 
anclior  around  us,  while  the  river  near  its  banks  is  crowded  with 
native  junks  and  fishing-smacks,  not  to  speak  of  a  fleet  of  thirty  or 
more  high  and  awkward,  lazy-looking,  small  Chinese  sloops-of-war, 
in  all  carrying  two  hundred  guns.  They  display  at  their  mast- 
heads figured  and  ornamental  yellow  bunting  enough  to  cover  their 
decks.  How  pleasant  it  is  to  us  to  recognize  the  United  States 
flag-ship  Colorado,  sitting  gracefully  in  the  midst,  as  if  calmly  sur- 
veying the  naval  array !  We  have  counted  her  guns,  though  we 
have  no  need  to  count  her  stars  and  stripes — we  know  that  they 
are  all  there.  Our  glasses  have  failed  to  discover  our  old  friend' 
Admiral  John  Eodgers,  but  we  know  that  he  must  be  there.  Who 
else  could  have  ordered  that  double  line  of  seamen  in  dark  blue  to 
cheer  Mr.  Seward  as  we  are  passing,  and  that  band  to  strike  up  the 
inspiring  strains  of  "  Hail  Columbia  ?  " 

Shanghai,  October  18th. — Consul-General  Seward  and  a  dozen 
other  Americans,  with  kind  consideration,  took  us  from  our  anchor- 
age, and  brought  us  by  steam-yacht  to  the  "  Bund." 

Let  no  one,  however,  infer  from  this  date  that  we  have  arrived 
in  China.  Shanghai,  as  we  have  thus  far  seen  it,  seems  to  us  less 
like  an  outpost  of  the  Central  Flowery  Kingdom,  than  a  town  on 
our  native  shores.  This  hospitable  mansion  of  Eussell  &  Company, 
all  the  other  houses,  this  quay,  this  street,  all  the  streets,  this 
bridge,  these  churches,  these  banking-houses,  warehouses,  and 
steamers,  these  carriages  and  horses,  these  men  and  women,  all 
that  we  have  seen  on  the  river  or  on  shore,  are  European ;  for  so 
they  call  here  whatever  is  foreign,  whether  it  has  come  from  one 
side  of  the  Atlantic  or  from  the  other.  This  is,  in  short,  the 
"  Concession." 

We  have  enjoyed  our  first  drive  in  the  country,  that  is  to  say, 
an  excursion  of  six  miles  through  the  "  Concession."  Is  the  air  of 
constraint  which  the  natives  here  wear  in  presence  of  foreigners 
due  more  to  fear  than  to  hate  ?    These  contracted  concessions,  made 


96 


JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 


by  the  government  to  foreigners,  remind  one  of  "  the  liberties,"  so 
called,  which  were  drawn  round  jails  in  Europe  and  the  United 
States  before  the  abolition  of  imprisonment  for  debt.  "  You  are  safe 
within  them ;  we  guarantee  nothing  outside  of  them."  Neither 
party  looks  with  pleasure  on  "the  Concession."  The  foreigner 
wants  it  enlarged ;  the  native  dislikes  it  altogether. 

Wliile  writing  these  not  very  profound  reflections,  we  were 
summoned  to  the  great  gate  of  "  the  Compound,"  to  see  for  the 
first  time  a  mandarin  procession. 


MANDABIN   PROCESSION. 


It  is  the  custom  of  a  mandarin,  when  he  moves  abroad  on  social 
or  official  visits,  to  be  attended  by  as  naany  retainers  as  he  has,  or 
can  hire.     He  proceeds,  dressed  in  silken  robes,  in  a  sedan-chair. 


CHI-TAJEX  AND   SUN-TAJEN.  97 

with  a  square,  glaring,  scarlet  canopy,  borne  by  coolies,  over  his 
bead.  Fantastic  groups  go  before  and  behind  tlie  chair,  dressed  in 
faded  finery,  carrying  umbrellas  of  all  forms  and  colors,  huge 
gilded  maces  and  staves,  banners,  flags,  and  pennons,  incomprehen- 
sible, but  fiery  red  and  ragged.  A  straggling  company  of  musi- 
cians leads  the  procession,  while  others  mingle  with  it  promiscu- 
ously, all  beating  and  banging  on  noisy  gongs,  clattering  sticks, 
and  deafening  di'ums.  The  procession  in  the  present  case  was  of 
double  dignity  and  importance  :  it  conveyed  two  mandarins  instead 
of  one.  Falstafl^'s  "  tattered  prodigals,"  although  he  had  ''misused 
the  king's  press,"  were  less  grotesque.  "We  thought  that  as  the  man- 
darins a]5proached  they  appeared  unbecomingly  eager  to  show  them- 
selves. "We  did  them  injustice.  Leaning  from  their  chair-windows 
they  bowed  low  and  gesticulated  reverentially  as  they  passed  us. 
To  our  surprise,  we  recognized  in  their  persons  Chi-Tajen  and  Sun- 
Tajen,  survivors  of  the  late  lamented  Burlingame  in  the  great  Chi- 
nese embassy  which  visited  the  United  States  in  1868,  and  which 
took  final  leave  of  Mr.  Seward  at  his  residence  in  Auburn. 

"  "Wot  I  look  at,"  said  Samuel  "Weller,  "  is  the  hextraordinary 
and  wonderful  coincidence."  Chi-Tajen  and  Sun-Tajen,  since 
they  parted  with  us,  have  spent  two  years  in  accomplishing  their 
eastern  voyage  around  the  world,  and  they  have  reached  Shang- 
hai on  the  very  day  we  have  arrived  here  in  our  western  circum- 
navio-ation ! 

The  pageant  passed  quickly  by,  and  we  returned  to  our  cham- 
ber. How  absurd  this  exhibition  had  seemed ;  how  differently  it 
made  the  ambassadors  appear  here,  from  the  show  they  made 
abroad !  "  Yes,"  said  Mr,  Seward,  "  it  is  even  so  ;  it  is  an  evi- 
dence of  the  decay  of  the  empire.  States,  like  indi\'idual  men,  re- 
tain their  pride  long  after  they  have  lost  the  means  to  support  it." 

Somehow  it  happens  that,  wherever  we  go,  the  resting-places 
of  the  dead  attract  our  attention  before  the  homes  of  the  living. 
The  peculiarity  of  burial  here  is,  that  the  tombs  rise  in  great  hil- 
locks, everywhere  in  the  cultivated  fields,  and  even  in  the  gardens. 
So  far  as  we  have  observed,  the  monuments  are  few,  cheap,  and 
inelegant. 


98  JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

Shanghcd,  October  l^th. — Sliangliai  is  immensely  agitated  con- 
cerning tlie  recent  massacre  at  Tien-Tsin.  We  find  European  vol- 
unteers, a  hundred  strong,  drilling  for  defence  against  an  appre- 
hended Chinese  invasion  of  "  the  Concession."  Mrs.  Seward,  the 
consul-general's  wife,  has  just  presented  those  volunteers  with  a 
standard  of  colors.  Everybody  is  astonished  at  Mr.  Seward's  rash- 
ness in  going  to  Peking  at  the  very  moment  they  nnderstand  that 
all  the  foreign  legations  there  are  coming  to  this  port  for  protec- 
tion, under  the  guns  ot  their  respective  nations.  Admiral  Rodgers, 
with  his  staff,  called  upon  Mr.  Seward  to-day.  Although  it  is  im- 
possible for  the  Colorado  to  ascend  the  Pei-ho  to  Tung-Chow,  he 
considers  it  his  duty  to  visit  the  capital  personally.  He  has  ar- 
ranged to  accompany  Mr.  Seward  there  next  week. 

Mrs.  AVarden,  our  hostess,  last  night  had  the  entire  foreign 
society  of  Shanghai  at  a  ball,  which,  although  given  in  honor  of 
Mrs.  Seward,  the  bride,  had  been  postponed  until  our  arrival. 

Gentlemen  largely  predominate  in  European  Shanghai.  The 
recent  arrival  of  so  many  American  ladies  was  deemed  a  social 
event.  Our  lady-friends  at  home  will  be  interested  in  knowing 
that  all  China  furnishes  not  one  mantua-maker  or  milliner.  The 
dresses  for  the  ladies  come  on  orders  from  Paris,  London,  or  ISTew 
York.  ISTative  women  have  no  need  of  European  costumes.  The 
work  here  of  the  seamstress  and  tailor  is  done  exclusively  by  men. 
They  come  to  your  house  and  execute  your  commands  quickly, 
patiently,  and  cheaply,  and  in  doing  so  they  faithfully  copy  every 
pattern  you  give  them,  and  omit  nothing.  We  are  inclined  to 
think  that  the  story  of  the  American  merchant  who  ordered  a 
dozen  pairs  of  yellow  nankeen  pantaloons,  and,  sending  as  a  pat- 
tern a  pair  which  had  been  torn  and  patched,  received  twelve  pairs 
similarly  patched  in  execution  of  his  order,  is  not  altogether  an 
invention. 

The  contrast  between  European  and  Chinese  civilization  was 
presented  sharply  to  us  this  morning  in  our  passage  from  open 
European  Shanghai,  with  its  population  of  three  thousand,  to  the 
native  town  of  Shanghai,  with  its  one  hundred  thousand  inhabit- 
ants, shut  up  within  a  circular  wall  twenty-five  feet  high,  and  two 


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NATIVE   SHANGHAI.  99 

and  one-tliird  miles  in  circumference.  We  do  not  tliink  that  any 
youth  of  our  own  day,  however  vigorous  his  arm,  however  strong 
the  sling  or  heavy  the  pebble  he  might  use,  could  reduce  that  wall, 
which  was  built  doubtless  in  the  time  of  Kublai  Khan,  but  we 
would  not  answer  for  its  standing  against  such  an  arm  or  weapon 
as  that  which  brought  down  the  giant  of  the  Philistines.  The  town 
was  easily  captured  by  the  English  in  1843.  When  we  had  passed 
within  the  gates,  and  saw  the  narrow  streets,  and  the  crowded 
structures,  built  of  the  most  combustible  materials,  we  wondered 
what  can  be  the  Chinese  idea  in  keeping  up  the  wall,  which,  in  case 
of  conflagration,  must  render  escape  impossible.  Native  Shanghai, 
like  the  foreign  settlement,  is  built  on  an  alluvial  soil,  and  is  insa- 
lubrious, though  reclaimed  many  centuries  ago.  This  city  is  the 
seat  of  an  immense  inland  trade,  in  which  the  tropical  products  of 
Southern  China,  with  the  hardier  ones  of  Central  China,  are  ex- 
changed over  the  Yang-tse-kiang  and  the  Imperial  Canal  for  the  tim- 
ber, cattle,  cereals,  wool,  and  other  products  of  Northern  China,  Mon- 
golia, Mantchooria,  and  Russia.  The  annual  exports  of  the  town 
exceed  in  value  the  whole  mineral  production  of  the  United  States. 
It  need  not  be  said,  therefore,  that  its  merchants  are  shrewd,  in- 
dustrious and  prosperous.  It  is  marvellous  how  they  have  crowded 
so  small  an  area  with  warehouses,  manufactories,  shops,  gardens, 
theatres,  dwellings,  and  temples.  All  these  are  built  on  a  scale  so 
small  and  mean,  that,  though  each  structure  proves  adequate  to  its 
purpose,  it  is  only  a  miniature  model  or  a  toy.  Nevertheless,  the 
people  of  the  town  manifested  much  pride  in  showing  us  their  con- 
tracted dwellings  built  or  exquisitely  ornamented  wdth  cedar  and 
other  fragrant  woods,  their  miniature  lakes  filled  with  dwarf  moun- 
tains which  sometimes  rise  to  the  enormous  height  of  thirty  feet, 
and  which  the  Chinese  imagination  magnifies  into  a  range  of  Him- 
alayas. We  found  there,  besides  tea-houses  vastly  finer  than  any 
in  Japan,  numerous  guildhalls  elaborately  ornamented,  in  which 
boards  and  other  associations  of  merchants  and  manufacturers  daily 
congregate  to  discuss  matters  of  trade,  and  such  politics  as  they 
have.  With  all  this,  there  is  not  one  street  accessible  by  car- 
riage of  any  kind.     The  visitor  is  even  obliged  to  leave  his  sedan.- 


100  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

chair  at  the  gate,  and  make  his  way  through  crowded  lanes  at  most 
six  or  eight  feet  wide.  Surface  drainage  is  used,  and  the  streets 
are  so  offensive  and  disgusting  that  every  European  in  the  "  con- 
cession "  warns  the  stranger  against  going  there. 

Contrary  to  what  we  saw  in  Japan,  the  native  Chinaman  shows 
not  the  least  emulation  or  imitation  of  Western  customs  and  man- 
ners. All  his  ways  manifest  a  S23irit  of  self-assertion  and  indepen- 
dence, if  not  a  contemptuous  one.  We  now  comprehend  the  puzzle 
of  the  Chinaman  in  San  Francisco.  The  scenes  which  the  European 
avoids  here  by  taking  refuge  within  the  "concession"  are  con- 
tinually present  with  him  wherever  he  moves  in  San  Francisco.  It 
is  probable  that  the  contact  will  work  an  improvement  in  Chinese 
morals  and  manners  there,  sooner  than  the  separation  will  bring 
out  that  result  here. 

But  we  eschewed  philosophy  for  to-day,  and  here  we  have  fallen 
into  it  acrain. 


"O^ 


Shanghai,  October  '^Oth.  —  A  renewal  to-day  of  yesterday's 
Chinese  procession,  but  with  a  sequel.  Chi-Tajen  and  Sun-Tajen 
visited  Mr.  Seward,  and  announced  to  him  the  success  of  their 
diplomatic  labors  in  Europe,  condoled  with  him  on  the  death  of 
Mr.  Burlingame,  thanked  Mr.  Seward  over  and  over  again  for  the 
aid  they  had  received  from  him  in  their  mission,  and  dwelt  long 
and  gratefully  on  the  hospitalities  which  they  had  enjoyed  in  the 
United  States.  Mr.  Seward  inquired  their  lodgings,  and  expressed 
his  intention  of  returning  their  visit.  They  thanked  him,  but 
insisted  that  he  should  not  do  so.  They  said,  "  We  are  living  in  a 
Chinese  inn,  in  the  old  city.  Neither  the  tavern  nor  the  city  is 
worthy  or  fit  to  receive  you."  When  he  persisted,  they  replied : 
"JS'o,  no,  we  will  come  to  you  here,  but  we  are  unable  to  entertain. 
Even  when  we  were  with  you  at  Auburn,  and  you  promised  to 
come  to  China,  we  thought  how  unworthy  we  were  to  receive  such 
a  visit.  JS^ow,  since  we  have  compared  so  much  that  we  have  seen 
abroad  with  what  we  are  at  home,  we  know  this  better." 

It  is  a  disappointment  to  us.  What  we  want  to  do  is  to  study 
China  and  Chinese  ways.     This  study  is  the  last  one  that  can  be 


FOEEIGN  PREJUDICES.  101 

made  among  the  foreign  population  of  Sliangliai.  In  that  circle, 
Chinese  afi'airs  are  generally  ignored.  With  the  exception  of  an 
occasional  philanthropic  observer,  they  talk  in  that  society  chiefly 
of  French  defeats  and  German  victories,  of  London  fashions,  Oxford 
boat-races,  and  American  inferiority  to  Europeans  in  diplomatic 
and  consular  etiquette.  If  they  talk  at  all  of  China,  it  is  against  the 
Burlingame  Treaty,  with  asseverations  that  it  is  an  utter  absurdity 
to  expect  any  good  thing  to  come  out  of  China,  except  through 
blockade  and  bombardment.  Possibly,  this  is  an  exaggeration 
resulting  from  the  massacre  at  Tien-Tsin,  and  represents  the  tran- 
sient rather  than  the  settled  opinion  of  the  foreign  population. 

Happily  this  distrust  of  the  Chinese  does  not  affect  or  disturb 
trade.  A  large  part  of  the  coasting-trade  of  China  is  in  foreign 
hands,  and  is  conducted  chiefly  by  the  Shanghai  Steam-Navigation 
Company.  That  company  has  built  wharves  one  thousand  feet 
long,  which  are  covered  with  warehouses,  here  called  "  go-downs." 
From  these  wharves  the  company  dispatches  eighteen  coastwise 
steamers,  an  average  of  one  per  day.  These  are  chiefly  American- 
built,  and  they  enter  all  the  treaty  ports  of  the  empire.  How 
miserable  the  prejudices  to  which  we  have  adverted  seem  to  us,  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  this  immense  development  of  foreign  naviga- 
tion and  commerce  is  not  only  permitted  by  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment, but  is  encouraged  by  it !  It  seems  the  more  unreasonable 
when  we  reflect  that  now,  after  more  than  twenty  years  of 
international  intercourse,  the  United  States  have  not  one  griev- 
ance against  the  Chinese  Government  unredressed,  or  one  demand 
unsatisfied. 

It  is  pleasing  to  meet,  here,  "  John  Brown's  soul  marching  on." 
At  Mrs.  Warden's  ball,  a  colored  man  named  Butler  was  received 
on  a  footing  with  the  other  guests.  This  Mr.  Butler,  who  is 
equally  modest  and  intelligent,  is  a  native  of  Washington,  and  was 
born  a  slave  of  Commodore  Rodgers,  the  father  of  the  present 
admiral.  He  is  here  superintendent  of  the  "  go-downs,"  and 
charged  with  the  entire  freighting  business  of  the  Shanghai  Steam- 
IlTavigation.  Company,  receiving  for  his  services  a  salary  of  four 
thousand  dollars. 


102  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

Steamshij)  Shan  Tung,  October  22^7. — "  Situated  as  we  are  and 
circumstanced  as  we  are,"  it  seems  to  us  that  we  are  out  on  a  picnic, 
Avliich,  though  it  threatens  to  be  long,  promises  much  of  interest. 
TVe  have  left  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Randall  at  Shanghai.  At  eleven  o'clock 
last  night,  Mr.  Warden,  whom  we  have  found  as  wise  as  he  is  kind, 
drove  us  to  the  "  Bund,"  where  we  were  received  by  the  aforesaid 
superintendent  Butler,  who  had  set  ship  and  shore  ablaze  with  an 
illumination  of  Chinese  lanterns  in  honor  of  Mr.  Seward.  With 
this  magnificent  display,  we  were  brought  on  board  this  pretty 
steamer  which  remains  still  attached  to  the  wharf.  It  is  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet  long  and  twenty-four  feet  across  the  beam ;  its 
state-rooms  and  cabins  are  more  spacious  than  those  usually  found 
on  our  rivers  and  lakes  at  home,  and  we  enjoyed  in  them  a  sounder 
slesp  last  night  than  the  excitement  and  hilarity  at  Shanghai  had 
before  allowed  us. 

At  six  this  morning — 


'& 


"The  ship  was  cheered, 
The  harbor  cleared, 
Merrily  did  we  drop — " 

down  the  river  to  Woosung,  where  a  friendly  summons  from  the 
Colorado  brought  us  to,  and  Mr.  Seward  received  her  salute  of 
fifteen  guns.  Under  this  friendly  fire.  Admiral  Eodgers  came  on 
board  the  Shan  Tung  with  an  attendance  of  seven  officers,  a  guard 
of  twenty-seven  marines,  and  the  brass  band  of  his  flag-ship.  With 
this  gallant  accession,  we  have  crossed  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Yang-tse-kiang,  here  thirty  miles  wide,  and  are  once  more  afloat 
on  the  Yellow  Sea,  bound  for  the  now  much-dreaded  colder  regions 
of  the  north. 

Taking  up  the  Shanghai  newspaper,  we  read  the  news  of  the 
overthrow  of  the  Second  Empire  of  France,  and  the  establishment 
of  a  provisional  government  at  Paris. 

Everybody  asks  Mr.  Seward,  "Will  France  now  restore  the 
Orleans  dynasty,  or  will  it  be  the  elder  branch  of  the  Bourbons  ?  " 
He  answers,  "  I  think  France  will  henceforth  be  a  republic,  not 
because  the  country  is  prepared  for  it,  but  because  it  has  at  last 


ON"  THE  YELLOW  SEA. 


103 


both  sufficiently  tried  and  exploded  monarcliy  and  imperialism." 
"  This,"  said  one  of  our  friends,  "  is  a  hold  prophecy  to  make  under 
the  shadow  of  an  empire  which  is  five  thousand  years  old,  while  the 


MOtTTH   OF  THE   TANG-T8E-KIANG. 


republic  is  only  an  experiment  of  one  hundred  years  in  America 
and  in  Switzerland."  He  replied  :  "  The  first  JSTapoleon  predicted- 
that,  within  fifty  years,  Europe  would  either  be  Cossack  or  repub- 
lican. Monarchies  and  empires  are  of  the  past.  The  republic  is 
the  institution  of  the  present  and  future." 

"  By  the  deep,  twenty -four  fathoms."  Deep  water  this,  though 
the  waves  still  glisten  with  the  yellow  sands  of  the  great  river. 
The  ship  rocks,  and  we  rest. 


Yellow  Sea,  Latitude  84°  30',  Sunday,  October  2?jd. — Although 
we  certainly  did  lose  one  whole  day  on  shipboard  on  the  Pacific, 
and  although  it  seems  to  us  that  we  waste  much  time  on  shore,  we 
find  nevertheless,  on  counting  the  weeks,  and  measuring  the  dis- 
tances, that  we  are  moving  rapidly.  Only  last  Sunday,  we  entered 
the  Yellow  Sea  from  Japan.  To-day,  after  a  w^eek  of  observation 
and  festivity  at  Shanghai,  we  have  made  one-third  of  our  long 


104  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND  COCniN  CHINA. 

projected  voyage  to  Tien-Tsin.  "Who  can  reckon  on  the  seasons  ? 
We  came  on  board,  prepared  with  furs  and  blankets,  and  shrinking 
with  fear  of  tempests.  Nevertheless,  the  heavens  are  smiling,  and 
the  Yellow  Sea  is  smooth  as  Owasco  Lake.  The  band,  perhaps 
because  we  are  travelling  in  the  hemisphere  of  the  heathen,  has 
brought  no  sacred  music.  Happily,  it  has  not  forgotten  its  lessons 
from  the  opera.  So  we  were  awakened  and  brought  to  the  deck 
this  morning  by  the  "  Dies  Irse  "  chorus  from  "  Faust."  For  even- 
ing we  have  stipulated  for  the  prayer  in  "  Der  Freischiitz."  Al- 
though we  have  no  missionaries  on  board,  we  have  come  to  regard 
Sunday  at  sea  as  a  day  of  rest,  even  more  privileged  and  happy 
than  at  home.  We  have  offered  from  the  deck  thanks  for  our  own 
preservation  as  grateful,  and  prayers  for  friends  at  home,  we  trust, 
as  fervent,  as  those  which  may  be  made  there  to-day,  "for  per- 
sons going  to  sea."  We  have  just  passed  the  mouth  of  the 
Hoang-ho — the  Yellow  Kiver — the  second  of  the  two  great  rivers 
of  China. 

Steamer  Shan  Tung,  October  'HUh. — We  rounded  this  morning 
the  noble  granite  promontory  Shan  Tung,  which  is  the  most  eastern 
landmark  of  China  proper,  and  gives  its  name  to  one  of  the  most 
extensive  of  the  eighteen  provinces  which  constitute  the  empire.  It 
is  the  water-shed  between  the  Gulf  of  Pe-chee-lee  and  the  basin  of 
the  Yellow  River.  It  is  across  the  western  end  of  this  promontory 
that  the  Imperial  Canal  bears  the  exchanges  of  Southern  and 
Central  China  with  those  of  the  metropolis  and  the  outlying  prov- 
inces of  Mantchooria  and  Mono;olia.  Besides  some  hshermen's 
huts  on  the  beach,  we  saw  only  one  structure  on  the  promontory, 
a  Buddhist  temple.  The  whole  coast  of  the  promontory  is  held 
sacred  in  China  as  pertaining  to  the  birthplace  of  Confucius. 

The  appearance  of  a  troop  of  soldiers  winding  down  the  moun- 
tain-side reminded  us  that  the  Tien-Tsin  massacre  has  been  followed 
by  profound  apprehensions  of  foreign  war.  A  lonely,  basaltic  rock 
towers  above  the  sea  at  the  foot  of  the  promontory — a  monument 
that  the  land  once  came  there,  and  that  the  wasting  ocean  has  cut 
it  off.     But  this  monument,  like  all  those  erected  by  human  hands, 


iV.rn' 


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CHINESE  JUNKS. 


105 


is  not  destined  to  endure.  It  is  already  broken,  and  tlie  sea  is 
flowing  through  it.  Fishing-smacks  flock  like  gulls  around  the 
base  of  the  promontory. 

The  junk  is  an  odd-looking  affair.  It  lies  low  in  the  water. 
All  its  timbers  are  quaintly  carved,  and  it  is  painted  as  gayly  as  if 
designed  for  a  regatta.  Practically  speaking,  it  is  a  double-ender, 
and  its  awkwardly-rigged  and  ill-shapen  rudder  distinguishes  it 


CHINESE   FlSHING-SilACK. 


from  all  other  sea-craft  which  have  been  built  since  Noah's  ark. 
On  either  side  of  the  bow  there  is  never  wantino;  a  hu2;e  eve.  We 
asked  a  Chinese  seaman  the  sio-niflcance  of  that  ornament.  He 
promptly  replied,  "Junk  no  have  eye,  no  can  see!"  It  is  a  re- 
markable coincidence  that  not  only  the  boats  but  the  houses  of  the 
Alaska  Indians  are  furnished  with  eyes.  Although  China  has 
never  been  a  maritime  power,  and  is  not  likely  soon  to  become 


106  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

one,  it  has  an  internal  navigation  wliicli  lias  never  been  and  never 
can  be  equalled  elsewhere. 

Personal  coincidences  thicken.  This  morning,  one  of  the 
marines  communicated  to  Admiral  Rodgers,  through  the  offices  of 
William  Freeman,  that  he  was  not  unknown  to  Mr.  Seward.  The 
admiral  promptly  instituted  an  inquiry,  which  resulted  in  the 
marine's  coming  to  the  quarter- deck,  and  being  recognized  there 
by  Mr.  Seward  as  a  soldier  who  served  on  the  escort  which  attended 
him  through  Alaska  last  year,  and  that  his  knowledge  of  Mr. 
Seward  had  begun  in  his  having  been  put  on  guard  at  his  house  in 
Washington,  on  the  night  of  the  President's  assassination.  Need 
we  say  that  he  was  glad  to  renew  his  acquaintance  with  one  who 
had  been  a  defender  on  two  such  memorable  occasions  ? 

Steamer  Shan  Tung,  October  26^A. — Bearing  w^estward  from 
Shan  Tung,  we  after  some  hours  entered  the  harbor  of  Chee-foo, 
nearly  surrounded  by  hills.  Thus  far  we  have  seen  nothing  sub- 
lime, nor  even  any  thing  picturesque  in  China.  The  northern 
shores  are  only  more  pleasing  than  those  about  Shanghai,  because 
they  are  slightly  elevated  and  slightly  undulating.  Naked  and 
barren  at  this  season,  one  might  well  mistake  the  region  about 
Chee-foo  for  the  California  coast. 

The  United  States  war-steamer  Bcnicia  saluted  us  as  we  entered 
the  harbor,  and  her  officers  came  on  board.  Chee-foo  is  one  of  the 
last-opened  ports  of  China.  The  foreign  settlement  numbers  only 
one  hundred.  The  native  population  is  variously  estimated  at 
twenty-five  thousand  to  eighty  thousand.  The  agent  of  the  Steam- 
Navigation  Company  received  us  on  a  well-constructed  stone  wharf, 
and  has  entertained  us  in  the  kindest  manner.  We  have  made 
an  excursion  in  chairs  to  an  eminence  that  overlooks  the  town 
and  harbor,  and  found  there  a  ruin,  but  w^ere  unable  to  deter- 
mine whether  the  structure  was  a  temple,  an  observatory,  or  a 
watch-tower.  From  its  dilapidated  walls  we  counted  two  hundred 
vessels  of  all  sorts  and  sizes  anchored  in  the  bay,  although  Chee-foo 
confines  itself  exclusively  to  the  coast-trade.  In  this  trade,  pressed 
tea  prepared  for  the  Eussian  market  in  the  form  of  bricks,  and 


A  STOEM  AT  SEA.  107 

scarcely  more  nutritious,  is  the  chief  article.  A  large  and  delicious 
native  grape  cultivated  here  is  highly  esteemed  in  all  the  cities  of 
China,  but  no  wine  is  made. 

Descending  the  hill,  we  enjoyed  the  walk  on  the  smooth  sand- 
beacli.  Chee-foo  is  a  summer  resort  of  foreigners — the  Newport 
of  China.  The  bungalows,  however,  are  now  vacant.  One  of  them, 
which  was  built  by  a  missionary,  cost  ten  thousand  dollars. 

The  gentlemen  of  our  party,  having  recovered  their  land-legs, 
and  been  furnished  with  stout  native  ponies,  made  a  scrub-race  on 
the  beach.  The  admiral,  "  who  carries  weight  for  age,"  was  dis- 
tanced by  the  consul-general.  Our  friends  at  home  will  be  pleased 
to  learn  that  the  whole  party  furnished  themselves  here  with  pon- 
gees, suitable  for  wear  in  the  tropics,  at  twenty-five  cents  a  yard. 

We  left  Chee-foo  at  eight  in  the  evening,  and  at  eleven  o'clock 
we  "  caught  it."  As  we  kept  near  the  coast,  the  sea  was  shoal  and 
sand-colored.  A  strong  land-wind  arose  and  blew  the  water  into 
ridges  thirty  or  forty  feet  high,  and  our  com'se  obliged  us  to  travel 
continually  in  the  trough.  The  wind  increased  to  a  gale,  and  the 
steamer  rocked.  How  she  did  rock!  Those  two  of  our  naval 
friends  who  were  left  in  a  condition  to  do  any  thing,  declare  that 
they  counted  twenty-four  rollings  of  the  steamer  from  one  side  to 
another  in  sixty  seconds.  It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that 
Lieutenant  Wheeler  and  Mr.  Pillsbury  are  somewhat  suspected  of 
waggery.  But  it  must  also  be  remembered  that,  at  the  time  they 
made  this  solemn  declaration,  they  supposed  themselves  to  be  very 
nearly  in  articulo  mortis.  Only  the  admiral  kept  his  feet,  Mr. 
Seward,  with  feet  braced,  being  lashed  in  his  chair  to  strong  iron 
stanchions  at  the  centre  of  the  middle  deck.  The  ladies  were 
packed,  wedged,  and  wadded  in  their  berths.  "  Admiral,"  asked 
Mr.  Seward,  "is  this  rolling  and  tumbling  a  customary  experience 
of  yours?"  "Ko,"  answered  the  admiral  with  not  less  than  his 
usual  gravity,  "  this  vessel  has  a  motion  entirely  unknown  to  me." 
"  Captain,"  said  Mr.  Seward  to  the  master  of  the  Shan  Tung,"  is 
this  rolling  a  chronic  habit  of  your  ship  ? "  "  ]^o,"  replied  the 
captain,  "  she  only  practises  it  in  the  Gulf  of  Pe-chee-lee."  Most 
of  the  Colorado's  marines,  and  all  the  musicians  except  two,  were 


108  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

helpless.  Nothing  that  was  loose  remained  in  place ;  furniture, 
trunks,  bags,  and  boxes,  bundles  of  pongee  and  baskets  of  Chee-foo 
grapes,  went  sliding  and  jamming  and  punching,  backward  and 
forward,  and  every  way,  until  our  pretty  dancing-room  gave  a 
heterogeneous  clattering  worse  than  a  seance  of  the  Davenport 
brothers.  In  all  this  noise,  confusion,  and  danger,  it  may  well  be 
imagined  there  was  no  sleep  at  night,  no  breakfast  in  the  morning, 
and  no  lunch  at  noon.  The  storm  abated  and  the  sea  began  to 
subside  at  three  o'clock.  At  four,  the  good  admiral  required  such 
of  the  musicians  as  were  sound  or  convalescent,  to  play  selections 
of  Offenbach,  by  way  of  enticing  sea-sick  passengers  from  their 
state-rooms.  But  even  "La  Belle  Helene"  and  "La  Grande  Du- 
chesse  "  alike  failed  in  this  sad  and  trying  emergency.  There  was 
neither  talking,  nor  dining,  nor  wining,  until  we  dropped  anchgr 
at  nine  o'clock  in  the  open  roadstead  of  Taku.  Here  in  that  road- 
stead we  are  now,  waiting  for  the  tide  to  carry  us  over  the  bar  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Pei-ho  Biver. 

There  is  little  show  of  commerce  about  us.  As  yet  we  see  no 
land,  and  only  a  dozen  vessels,  like  our  own,  riding  at  anchor.  We 
are  having  a  fii'st  experience  of  cold.  The  mercury  has  fallen  to 
50°. 

Ten  o'clock. — "We  have  dined.  The  pilot  has  come  on  board. 
The  musicians  are  playing  their  notes,  and  we  are  M"riting  up 
ours.  We  hope  that  the  dance  which  we  have  left  for  that  purpose 
will  keep  on  till  the  tide  changes. 


CHAPTER   Y. 

UP  THE  PEI-HO  RIVER. 

Mouth  of  the  Pei-ho. — Chinese  Forts. — American  Guns. — The  Most  Crooked  and  Mean 
of  Rivers. — Chinese  Dogs. — A  Misunderstanding. — Captain  Wang. — Our  Flotilla. — 
The  City  of  Tien-Tsin. — Aspect  of  the  Country. — Our  Boat  Life. — Absence  of  Ani- 
mals.— A  Messenger  from  Peking. — A  Chinese  Trader. — Tung-Chow. 

Pei-ho  Hiver,  October  ^Ith. — We  passed  the  bar  at  three  this 
morning,  having  only  twelve  feet  water,  while  the  Shan  Tung 
draws  twelve  feet  four  inches.  Thanks  to  the  sandy  bottom,  we 
have  come  safely  over.  With  the  exception  of  our  peeps  into  the 
native  cities  of  Shanghai  and  Chee-foo,  we  have  so  far  only  seen 
Europe  in  China.  jSTow  China  and  the  Chinese  have  opened  them- 
selves to  us.  Talvu  is  the  outer  port  of  Tien-Tsin,  and  is  forti- 
fied. Though  the  works  are  not  remarkable  for  construction,  they 
have  proved  very  effective  defences  by  reason  of  the  marshes 
which  prevent  the  near  approach  of  an  enemy.  "We  counted  one 
hundred  and  fifty  guns  in  position,  some  of  which  are  of  Amer- 
ican make.  The  forts  seem  not  strongly  garrisoned.  It  was  im- 
possible for  us  to  ascertain  whether  the  wide-spread  settlements 
through  which  we  passed  after  crossing  the  bar,  and  which  contain 
a  population  of  half  a  million,  are  one  great  city,  or  a  hundred  or 
more  busy  villages.  But  we  learn  that,  statistically  regarded,  Taku 
consists  of  three  villages,  Taku,  Siku,  and  Sangku.  A  leading 
business  is  the  trade  in  salt,  which  is  made  on  the  sea-shore,  and 
deposited  in  large  quantities  on  the  banks  of  tlie  rivers.  The 
channel  is  crowded  with  junks,  while  only  one,  two,  or  three  for- 


110  JAPAN,   CnmA,  AND  COCHIN  CHINA. 

eio:n  A^essels  ascend  or  descend  it  daily.  We  mifflit  well  know  that 
we  have  attained  a  higher  latitude.  The  dwelling-honses  here  are 
built,  not  of  wood,  but  of  adobe  walls,  with  chimneys ;  the  streets 
as  narrow  as  those  of  old  Shanghai.  As  we  advance  up  the  river, 
we  can  distinguish  farms,  with  spacious  and  comfortable  dwellings 
and  out-buildings.  The  Pei-ho  seems  the  most  crooked  and  mean 
of  all  rivers.  Only  such  a  people  as  the  Chinese  could  have  made 
such  a  stream  a  channel  of  continental  commerce.  It  is  about  as 
wide  in  most  places  as  our  steamer  is  long.  It  flows  over  alluvial 
sands ;  the  water  is  used  for  irrigating  the  flat  plain.  To  us,  who 
are  novices  here,  the  cultivation  seems  successful,  and  even  marvel- 
lous ;  nevertheless,  we  are  informed  that  this  is  the  most  barren 
region  of  the  empire.  The  cereals  and  vegetables  are  not  different 
from  those  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  though  more  various. 
They  have  white,  tulip-shaped  cabbages,  turnips  of  many  kinds  and 
sizes,  peas,  lentils,  wheat,  Indian-corn,  oats,  millet,  beans,  lettuce, 
and  onions  ;  occasionally  rice,  potatoes,  and  sweet-potatoes. 

Approaching  Tien-Tsin,  we  find  the  old  familiar  obstruction  of 
the  "  overslaugh  "  near  Albany.  The  boat  goes  around  every  five 
minutes,  and  sometimes,  at  a  bend  in  the  river,  suddenly  converts 
itself  into  a  bridge.  It  is  doubtful  whether  we  shall  reach  Tien- 
Tsin  until  another  flood.  To  increase  our  discomfort,  it  began  to 
rain  at  one  o'clock  at  night,  and  it  still  pours,  and  the  mercury  in 
both  thermometer  and  barometer  is  falling. 

Tien-Tsin,  October  '^^th. — Persevering  all  night,  through  all 
obstacles,  we  reached  and  grappled  "the  Bund"  of  the  foreign  set- 
tlement at  noon.  Here  steam-navigation  ends.  We  must  stop  and 
see  what  next.  Tien-Tsin  seems  worthy  to  be  the  entrepot  of 
foreign  commerce,  as  it  is  at  the  head  of  inland  navigation.  To 
estimate  its  trade,  one  has  but  to  look  at  the  flags  of  all  nations  on 
the  merchantmen  and  men-of-war,  in  the  crowded  and  contracted 
harbor.  These  flags  were  successively  dipped  and  our  own  na- 
tional steamsliip,  the  Ashuelot,  saluted  us  as  we  worked  our  way 
to  the  wharf.  The  French  naval  commander  and  the  British  and 
Kussian  consuls  have  already  come  on  board  with  friendly  greet- 


A  MELANCHOLY  NIGHT. 


Ill 


ings.     Tlie  foreign  settlement  is  small,  but,  contrasted  with  tlie 
native  suburbs,  makes  a  very  respectable  appearance. 

October  'H'dth. — "We  have  bad  a  jar  in  our  party.  Witli  dismal, 
cold  weather,  and  with  muddy  streets  on  the  land,  we  necessarily 
remain  on  board. 

A  Strauss  waltz,  suggestive  of  a  dance,  was  struck  up  by  the 
band  after  dinner,  probably  at  the  request  of  tlie  younger  officers 
at  the  foot  of  the  table.  Reflecting  on  the  excitement  produced  at 
this  moment,  not  only  in  China,  but  throughout  the  world,  by  the 
recent  massacre  of  Christians  in  this  very  place,  Mr.  Seward  remon- 
strated against  the  festivity.  The  young  people  reluctantly  acqui- 
esced, but  they  are  consoled  this  morning  by  his  admission  that  we 
had  a  7ioche  triste. 

We  have  had  a  busy  day.  The  gentlemen  have  secured  a  fleet 
of  flat-bottomed  sail-boats  with  crews,  in  all  numbering  one  hun- 
dred men.  All  the  party  have  been  engaged  in  preparing  stores 
and  packing,  intending  to  embark  this  evening.  Meanwhile,  Mr. 
Seward,  with  the  admiral,  has  been  entertained  with  an  inspection 
of  the  Ashuelot, 


CHINESE   DOGS. 


112  JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

The  foreigners  in  China  have  not  forgotten,  among  the  humani- 
ties, their  interest  in  the  canine  race.  Dogs  of  every  hind  have 
come  on  board,  as  if  appreciating  tlie  sympathies  of  civilization — 
tlie  ISTe-wfomidland  dog,  the  Australian  hound,  the  Russian  blood- 
hound, and  the  universal  black-and-tan  terrier;  but,  far  prettier 
than  all  those  very  familiar  friends,  are  a  pair  of  spaniels,  purely 
bred  from  Chinese  stock,  which  have  come  in  the  staff  of  the  Rus- 
sian consul-general.  They  are  small,  and  of  a  pinkish-brown, 
without  a  black  hair.  There  is  a  tradition  that  Charles  I.  received 
the  progenitor  of  this  race,  in  England,  as  a  present  from  the  Em- 
peror of  China.  It  is  that  identical  dog  lying  on  the  hearth-rug 
that  Horace  Walpole  describes  as  a  "plumy  wreath." 

Ten  o'clock  at  night. — 

"  The  best-laid  schemes  o'  mice  and  men 
Gang  aft  aglee." 

The  boats  did  not  come  to  time.  This  afternoon  a  chair  was 
provided  for  Mr.  Seward,  and  a  Mongolian  pony  for  each  one  of 
the  suite  who  chose.  This  animal,  like  our  Canadian  pony,  has 
great  strength  and  endurance.  Supposing  that  the  plan  for  the  ex- 
cursion was  fully  understood  by  all,  Mr.  Seward  went  ashore  and 
sat  down  in  his  chair,  on  "the  Bund."  At  this  moment,  some  one 
asked  Mr.  George  F.  Seward  if  he  were  going  to  ride.  He  an- 
swered, "  JSTo."  On  this,  the  inquirer  informed  Admiral  Rodgers 
that  Mr.  Seward  was  engaged,  and  would  not  ride.  The  whole 
party  at  this  moment  galloped  oiF,  leaving  Mr.  Seward  sitting  in 
his  chair,  surrounded  by  his  eight  coolie  bearers,  not  one  of  whom 
spake  or  understood  a  word  of  English.  They  waited  for  orders  in 
Chinese,  which,  although  Mr.  Seward  could  give  in  English,  there 
was  no  person  to  intei'pret. 

At  the  first  turn  in  the  road,  the  equestrians  looked  back  for 
their  chief.  He  was  not  there.  Inquiry  being  made,  the  admiral 
answered  that  Mr.  Seward  was  not  coming  out.  This  satisfied 
them  for  the  time,  but  on  further  reflection  a  doubt  arose  whether 
he  had  so  capriciously  changed  his  purpose.     So  the  whole  party, 


THE  PEI-nO  SQUADRON.  113 

under  apprehensions  for  his  safety,  returned  on  their  ti-ack  for  a 
rescue.  They  found  him  at  a  distance  of  half  a  mile  from  the  Bund, 
pressing  on  with  his  eight  coolies  and  a  mounted  guide.  After 
this  faux  2)as,  we  passed  over  a  broad  plain  covered  with  crumbling 
tombs  and  neglected  graves,  and  then  came  to  a  high  outer  wall, 
which  stretches  across  from  the  Chinese  city  to  the  bank  of  the 
river.  The  wall  was  erected  during  the  last  combined  British  and 
French  invasion.  It  is  an  earthwork  with  a  narrow,  shallow  moat, 
a  glacis  twenty  feet  wide,  and  a  frail  parapet  with  frequent  embra- 
sures, which  impart  to  it  an  ornamental  eifect.  The  admiral  says 
that  the  work  would  be  of  no  use  as  a  defence,  but  he  has  not  a 
high  estimate  of  Chinese  military  science.  However  that  may 
be,  the  glacis  furnished  us  a  delightful  ride,  with  beautiful  vistas, 
through  the  parapets,  across  the  bastions  and  under  the  crowning 
martello  towers. 

The  Chinese  know  as  well  how  to  utilize  their  temples  as  we 
know  how  to  improve  our  churches  for  hospitals  in  time  of  war. 
Attracted  by  massive  portals  and  high  outer  walls,  we  crossed  the 
plain  to  examine  a  Buddhist  temple,  standing  on  a  slight  elevation 
and  overlooking  the  river.  We  found  it  had  been  long  ago  con- 
verted into  a  powder-magazine.  Certainly  the  place  is  a  fitting 
one.     Miles  around  it  is  one  vast  suburb  of  the  dead. 

Adieu,  Shan  Tung,  with  your  morning  martial  promenades, 
your  TecliercM  dinners,  your  quiet  card-parties,  your  evening  con- 
certs and  balls,  your  rollings,  your  pitchings,  and  your  groundings 
and  your  tumblings !  "When  shall  we  see  another  seaman  like 
Captain  Hawes? 

Hail  to  thee,  flat-bottomed  boat  number  four  of  the  Pei-ho 
squadron,  with  thy  single  main-sail,  thy  four  poles,  and  thy  one 
tow-rope !  Hail,  Captain  "Wang,  and  your  meek  and  patient  four  ! 
"Whatever  perils  await  us  under  your  conduct,  we  are  insured  at 
least  against  a  watery  grave. 

Shall  we  describe  the  flotilla  ?  The  admiral  has  numbered  and 
registered  the  vessels,  one,  two,  three,  up  to  fifteen.  They  vary  in 
dimensions,  and,  though  coarsely,  are  all  strongly  built.  Each  has 
one  cabin,  less  than  five  feet  wide  at  the  floor,  and  one  raised  bunk 


114 


JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 


beliind  it  for  sleeping-room.  It  lias  cost  some  care  to  distribute 
among  the  boats  a  party  so  large  and  so  very  much  mixed.  Num- 
ber one  leads.  It  bears  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  and  carries  the 
United  States  consul-general,  Mrs.  Seward,  and  their  Chinese  ser- 
vants. IS^umber  two,  without  colors,  bears  the  two  other  ladies ; 
and  number  three  is  the  iiag-ship  of  Admiral  Rodgers,  his  secretary, 
and  servants,  and  floats  the  national  ensign  taken  from  the  Colorado. 
IS'umber  four,  under  a  broader  flag,  carries  Mr.  Seward  and  the 


BOATS   ON  THE  PEI-HO   KIVEE. 


fiuthful  Freeman.  It  is  the  largest  ship  in  the  fleet,  thirty  feet  long, 
and  twelve  feet  beam.  Of  the  whole  fleet,  only  number  four  has 
a  stove,  and  this  is  borrowed  from  the  Ashuelot.  Its  cabin,  there- 
fore, is  our  writing-room.  Wang  tells  us  this  boat  is  an  inheritance 
from  his  father,  and  has  been  in  constant  use  fifty-four  years. 
Jfumber  five  carries  Mr.  Middleton  and  Mr.  Rodman ;  numbers 
seven  and  eight,  officers  of  the  admiral's  staff";  number  nine  is  the 
dining-room  of  the  party ;  numbers  ten,  eleven,  twelve,  thirteen, 


THE   CITY  OF  TIEN-TSI:N'.  115 

fourteen,  and  fifteen,  have  on  board,  tlie  band,  the  marines,  stores, 
and  baggage. 

Each  boat  has  its  sunken  cabin  with  a  dark  hold  under  the 
forward  deck,  which  is  occupied  by  the  crew.  The  cabins  are  en- 
closed with  upright  slabs,  removable  at  pleasure.  They  are  old 
and  full  of  crevices,  and  exclude  neither  the  rain  nor  the  cold. 
The  boat  has  a  single  mast  forward  of  tiie  cabin  and  before  the 
cabin-door,  on  which  a  small  cotton  sail  is  rigged  with  a  single  reef, 
upon  a  bamboo-spar.  When  the  wind  does  not  serve,  the  boatmen 
resort  to  poles.  When  they  grow  tired  of  this,  they  betake  them- 
selves to  the  banks,  which  are  neither  paved  nor  graded.  Attach- 
ing the  towing-line  to  the  top  of  the  mast,  they  make  a  loose  knot 
on  the  other  end,  and  throw  it  over  their  shoulders.  Thus  har- 
nessed, they  draw  the  boat  up  the  stream.  Each  boat  has  four 
coolies,  and  we  pay  for  the  whole  voyage,  including  all  the  costs 
and  charges,  six  dollars  a  day  for  each  boat,  if  we  travel  only  by 
daylight,  and  nine  dollars  if  we  travel  day  and  night. 

Our  naval  friends  have  a  mess-boat  of  their  own  ;  the  rest  of 
the  party  use  the  dining-room.  Of  course,  these  parties  entertain 
each  other.  The  musicians  and  the  marines  are  supplied  with  their 
navy-rations,  and  the  coolies  take  care  of  themselves. 

We  started  with  a  fair  wind  this  morning,  and,  as  we  passed 
the  shipping,  our  band  made  the  acknowledgments  we  owed  to 
the  foreign  vessels,  by  pLiying  first  "  Hail  Columbia,"  then  "  God 
save  the  Queen,"  the  "  Marseillaise,"  and  all  the  other  national 
anthems.  The  friendly  ships  and  the  consulates  on  shore  lowered 
their  flags,  and  gave  us  cheers  and  encouraging  salutations.  It 
was  not  doubtful  that  the  gallant  ofiicers  regarded  our  ascent  to 
Peking,  at  this  painful  juncture,  as  an  adventure  not  altogether 
free  from  danger. 

The  serpentine  voyage  of  three  miles  brought  us  to  the  Chinese 
city  of  Tien-Tsin,  enclosed  within  a  stone-wall  forty  feet  high,  sur- 
mounted with  watch-towers,  and  four  miles  in  circuit.  Suburbs, 
densely  inhabited,  crowd  the  river  on  both  sides.  The  population 
is  stated  to  us  here  at  a  million  and  a  half.  Travellers  generally 
estimate  it  at  half  a  million.     We  may  well  accept  the  higher  figure. 


116  JAPAN,    CHINA,   AXD   COCHIN"   CHINA. 

for  sucli  a  scene  of  crowded  thougli  silent  activity  we  never  saw. 
Except  the  charred  walls,  broken  towers,  and  shattered  battlements 
of  the  Koman  Catholic  cathedral  and  convent  lately  destroyed, 
there  is  not  one  massive  or  j)retentious  structure,  i^arrow  streets 
divide  monotonous  blocks  of  one  story  and  two  story  buildings. 
Every  small  space  is  filled  with  countless,  moving  multitudes. 
There  is  no  ferry,  but  the  bridge  of  boats  is  crowded  with  a  mass 
of  men  and  boys  such  as  "  Fulton  Ferry  "  presents  on  a  holiday. 
Chinese  boats  choke  the  channel.  We  thought  we  never  should 
get  through  the  town,  but  we  did.  We  saw  an  army  of  ten  thou- 
sand men,  infantry  and  cavalry,  enter  the  city  as  we  passed  the 
western  gate.  At  a  distance  the  array  was  imposing,  but,  as  we 
neared  it,  we  discovered  a  woful  lack  of  uniformity,  as  well  in  dress 
as  in  arms  and  equipments.  The  infantry  arm  varied  from  a  wooden 
club  of  three  feet  long,  to  a  matchlock  with  a  seven-foot  barrel ;  _ 
the  music  thoroughly  discordant,  but  the  yellow  banners  were  fre- 
quent, gay,  and  gorgeous.  The  march  was  as  straggling  and  dis- 
orderly as  the  return  of  the  troops  from  Ball  Eun  to  Washington. 
It  is  notorious  that,  since  the  massacre,  the  Chinese  have  been 
gathering  a  large  army  at  Tien-Tsin.  Foreigners  say  it  is  a  prep- 
aration for  war ;  Chinese  official  jDersons,  on  the  contrary,  assure 
us  that  it  is  a  precaution  against  further  outbreaks  here.  It  is  too 
early,  however,  for  us  to  speak  on  this  exciting  toj^ic.  On  the  west 
side  of  Tien-Tsin,  as  on  the  east,  the  plain  presents  a  vast  and 
cheerless  field  of  sepulture.  Leaving  this  behind  us,  we  come 
through  cultivated  fields,  with  vegetable-gardens  hanging  over  the 
water's  edge.  Here  we  are  planting  our  stakes  and  tying  up  for 
the  night,  in  such  order  as  the  admiral  directs.  He  has  posted  a 
guard  around  us.  IS'o  one  passes  without  giving  the  countersign, 
and  each  passing  hour  is  called  as  the  hushed  night  rolls  on.  It  is 
cold,  and  we  shrink  into  our  cabins  to  meditate  as  we  may  on  the 
strange  scenes  and  men  around  us. 

On  the  Pei-ho,  October  dOth. — Thanks  to  our  commissary  who 
procured,  and  thanks  to  the  generous  friends  at  Tien-Tsin  who 
lent  us  the  blankets  and  furs,  we  have  enjoyed  a  comfortable  sleep 


A^  ANCrENT  PAVEMENT.  117 

in  our  most  uncomfortable  of  boats.  AYe  waked  in  a  drizzling 
rain,  the  thermometer  at  38°.  In  such  an  atmosphere,  comfort  is 
impossible  without  exercise,  which  can  only  be  obtained  by  walk- 
ing on  the  slippery  clay  banks  of  the  river,  for,  although  it  is  a 
canal,  it  has  no  towing-path.  The  Imperial  Canal,  the  greatest 
work  of  that  kind  in  the  world,  leaves  the  Pei-ho  at  Tien-Tsin, 
crosses  the  Yellow  Kiver,  and  debouches  into  the  Yang-tse-kiang, 
but  it  has  lesser  slack  water  and  other  contrivances,  which  extend 
the  navio-ation  to  Canton.  The  Pei-ho  Eiver  at  Tien-Tsin  is  navi- 
gated  eighty  miles  to  Tung-Chow,  the  appointed  terminus  of  om* 
present  voyage,  which  is  fifteen  miles  distant  from  Peking. 

The  country  is  level  and  monotonous,  but  more  sterile  as  we 
advance.  Although  the  inhabitants  are  poor,  they  seem  hardy, 
busy,  and  contented.  There  is  no  forest  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach, 
only  a  few  poplars  and  willows,  the  natural  products  of  an  alluvial 
soil,  kept  as  shade-trees.  It  is  not  easy  to  discover  how  the  im- 
mense population  procure  the  fuel  necessary  in  so  cold  a  climate. 
We  bought  coal,  of  an  inferior  quality,  at  a  large  price,  at  Tien- 
Tsin.     Our  coolies,  in  cooking,  burn  only  dry  stalks  of  Indian-corn. 

While  puzzling  ourselves  over  that  problem,  wo  discovered 
great  rafts  of  timber  which  choke  navigation.  Where  could  this 
timber  have  come  from  ?  Could  it  have  come  down  the  stream  ? 
If  up  the  stream,  where  was  it  shipped  ?  On  inquiry,  we  learn 
that  it  is  brought  across  the  Gulf  of  Pe-chee-lee,  from  the  Coreau 
Peninsula.  Forbidding  as  the  way  and  the  weather  are,  we  have 
walked  this  afternoon  many  miles.  Our  promenade  was  arrested 
by  a  marsh  which  compelled  us  to  make  a  short  detour,  and,  at  a 
distance  of  twenty  rods  from  the  bank  of  the  river,  we  found,  in  the 
bed  of  the  morass,  a  pavement  forty  feet  wide  and  one  hundred 
feet  long,  of  square  hewn  granite  blocks — the  first  ruin  we  have 
thus  far  seen  in  our  journey.  Who  laid  that  pavement  ?  When 
and  for  what  purpose?  Was  it  the  bottom  of  an  ancient  canal? 
There  were  no  other  traces  of  such  a  structure.  Losing  the  pave- 
ment as  it  disappeared  under  the  surface,  we  climbed  a  knoll  fifty 
rods  beyond,  and  found  there  a  perfectly  artistic  granite  wall, 
enclosing  a  large  area  within  which  no  edifice  remains.     At  one 


118  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

corner  of  tlie  wall  is  an  arched  gateway  half  in  ruins.  Stumbling 
through  this  passage  over  broken  bricks  and  stones,  we  entered  the 
desolate  court.  Here  we  confronted  a  solid  marble  shaft,  five  feet 
wide  and  twenty  feet  high,  standing  upon  the  back  of  a  huge 
tortoise  of  the  same  material,  having  the  exact  form  and  proportions 
of  ]N'ature,  every  line  of  the  shell,  body,  and  claws  being  executed 
with  precision  and  skill.  The  middle  of  the  shaft,  on  both  sides,  is 
covered  with  legends,  while  each  border  from  top  to  bottom  is 
crowded  with  mythical  birds,  sei-pents,  and  dragons,  exquisitely 
chiselled.  We  concluded  that  a  temple  had  once  stood  here,  and 
that  the  pavement  below  had  served  as  the  grand  approach.  Why 
had  it  been  sulfered  to  fall  into  ruin  ?  Perhaps  we  may  learn  more 
as  we  go  on. 

October  %\st,  Thermometer  48°  FaJirenheit. — We  have  made 
half  our  voyage.  A  range  of  mountains  looms  up  before  us  in  the 
west.  What  mountains?  They  must  be  the  Altai  range.  We 
have  described  Mr.  Seward's  boat.  Would  not  our  friends  at  home 
like  to  know  how  nicely  the  ladies  have  fitted  up  theirs  ?  It  is  not, 
indeed,  as  magnificent  as  Cleopatra's  barge,  but  there  is  no  Antony 
on  the  shores.  They  have  a  carpet  of  gray  goat-skins,  and  with 
superfluous  scarlet  blankets  have  extemporized  a  tapestry,  which 
eflectually  ■  covers  the  chinks,  and  excludes  the  wind.  The  dais, 
two  feet  high,  which  serves  for  a  bed,  has  a  drapery  of  purple  and 
gray  rugs.  Their  dressing-table^  which  is  a  portmanteau  on  end, 
is  covered  with  a  gay  shawl,  and  a  mirror  four  inches  square,  with 
a  gilt-frame,  borrowed  from  the  Ashuelot,  hangs  above  it.  For 
sofas,  they  use  trunks  spread  with  a  white  Thibetian  fur  great- 
coat, which  Mr.  Seward  has  kindly  contributed.  The  access  to  this 
elegant  saloon,  which  is  eight  feet  square,  is  not  particularly  con- 
venient— an  aperture  in  the  front,  two  feet  square,  with  a  descent 
of  three  feet,  without  steps  or  ladder.  In  going  in  one  stoops  and 
steps  backward ;  in  coming  out,  one  stoops,  and  is  pulled  upward. 
Our  habit  of  travel  is  settled.  The  fleet  moves,  or  is  siipposed  to 
move,  at  dawn.  We  are  served  with  hot  tea  and  a  biscuit,  with  the 
thermometer  somewhere  between  freezing  and   40°.      We  draw 


CHINESE   AGRICULTURE. 


119 


water  from  tlie  river,  for  the  toilet,  in  preference  to  that  which  was 
frozen  during  the  night  in  our  pitchers.  We  make  ourselves  warm 
by  a  walk  of  two  or  three  miles.  In  these  walks,  we  stare  and 
wonder  at  the  uncouth  ploughs,  the  awkward  fanning-mills,  and 


-'=^   ^^Ti;^;3;#^^:'^^==- 


w-j— 'jjp: 


CHUTESE  AGKICULTUEE. 


other  rude  farming  implements,  and  the  equally  strange  farm-houses 
and  dwellings  which  we  pass. 

What  seems  stranger  than  anv  thins^  else  is  the  absence  of 
domestic  animals.  Horses,  cows,  and  oxen,  are  indeed  sometimes 
seen  at  the  plough,  but  generally  the  ground  is  worked  with  spade 
and  hoe.     Xo  wheeled  vehicle,  except  rarely  a  cart,  with  a  mean 


120  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

calash,  drawn  by  a  liorse,  a  miile,  or  oxen,  is  seen.  Forty  sheep  here 
are  a  fortune.  Mr.  Bergh's  sensibilities  would  be  sorely  tried  if  he 
could  see  the  burdens  and  labors  imposed  on  the  ass.  The  hogs  are 
"  black  as  the  ace  of  spades,"  about  as  thin,  and  more  scarce  than 
pheasants.  Sometimes  we  tahe  one  side  of  the  river,  and  then 
cross  to  the  other.  ]^ot  mifrequeutly,  by  the  intervention  of  head- 
land and  promontory,  we  lose  sight  of  our  little  fleet,  or,  finding  it 
in  disorder,  mistake  number  two  for  number  four,  or  the  admiral's 
flag  for  the  consul-general's.  Coming  in  from  these  walks,  we 
gather  round  Mr.  Seward's  little  stove,  read  or  write,  and  talk  over 
the  alarms  of  the  night  and  the  incidents  of  the  moming:.  AVe 
breakfast  at  eleven,  and  dine  at  five.  Our  stores  are  chiefly  foreign. 
As  we  neither  know  how  to  procure  nor  how  to  prepare  the  Chinese 
food,  the  commissariat  gives  us  coffee  from  Mocha,  sausages  from 
Bologna,  biscuit  and  porter  from  England,  peas  from  France,  sar- 
dines from  Italy,  cheese  from  Chautauqua,  butter  from  Goshen,  and 
oysters  from  Baltimore,  with  wines  from  all  countries  in  the  world, 
except  China.  Our  boatmen,  "  heathen  Chinee  "  though  they  are, 
have  become  devoted  to  us,  and,  when  they  see  our  long  waiting 
for  breakfast,  they  kindly  offer  to  share  with  us  their  little  menu 
of  Indian-corn  bread,  wheaten  fritters,  and  cabbage-soup.  After 
dinner,  we  are  weary  enough  to  sink  into  our  hard  bunks,  and  cold 
enough  to  draw  over  us  our  furs.  The  boats  tie  up  very  punctually 
at  ten  o'clock,  and  it  is  by  no  means  safe  or  pleasant  to  clamber 
over  the  decks  from  one  to  the  other. 

Novemler  \st. — The  Xovember  which  we  have  dreaded  has 
met  us  here  in  China,  just  as  it  would  probably  have  come  down 
on  us  if  we  had  remained  at  home.  Its  breath,  often  cold  and 
clammy  there,  is  no  warmer  or  drier  here.  In  four  days  we  have 
had  not  one  gleam  of  sunshine.  We  might  well  imagine  ourselves 
on  the  St.  Lawrence,  so  similar  is  the  vegetation  of  this  sandy  plain. 
One  beautiful  feature,  however,  of  the  St.  Lawrence  is  missing 
here.  Instead  of  the  gorgeous  autumnal  forest,  we  have  only  a  few 
scattered  leaves,  and  those  pale-yellow  or  colorless.  "W^e  have  to- 
day added  fifteen  coolies  to  our  marine. 


AT   TUNG-CHOW.  121 

Mr.  Seward's  cabin  has  just  taken  fire,  but  Captain  "Wang  and 
his  crew  quicklj  dropped  their  buckets  into  the  river,  and  ex- 
tinguished the  flame.  Travellers  who  come  after  us  maj  take 
notice  that  stoves  on  the  Pei-ho  are  not  only  an  expensive  but  a 
dangerous  luxury. 

Tung-Chow^  November  2^. — At  a  distance  of  six  miles,  that  is 
to  say,  a  period  of  four  hours,  before  the  end  of  our  voyage,  a 
mounted  messenger,  coming  from  the  United  States  minister  and 
the  Eussian  minister  at  Peking,  met  us  on  the  river  with  con- 
gratulations. In  the  middle  of  the  dark,  rainy  night  we  became 
aware  of  our  arrival  at  Tung-Chow  by  the  noise  of  our  tackle 
taking  hold  upon  the  bank.  We  saw  nothing  of  this  long-desired 
haven  during  the  night,  though  the  unintelligible  jargon  of  a  crowd 
which  the  great  arrival  attracted  rendered  sleep  impossible.  The 
sun  at  last  relents.  The  scene  this  morning,  though  grotesque,  is 
cheerful.  The  nocturnal  crowd  has  swollen  to  a  dense  mass  of 
men  and  boys,  all  wearing  large,  broad-brimmed  straw  hats  clat- 
tering wooden-soled  shoes,  and  thickly-padded  and  quilted  blue 
blouses — all  parts  of  the  costume  showing  the  effects  of  wear,  and 
suggesting  many  changes  in  past  ownership.  They  manifest  in- 
tense curiosity  to  learn  the  secret  of  our  large  and  imposing  flotilla. 
As  they  peep  and  peer  through  every  aperture  and  crevice  of  our 
boats,  staring  with  narrow,  wondering  eyes  at  our  strange  costume 
and  complexion,  our  toilet  has  not  been  made  without  difficulty. 
They  are  nevertheless  quiet  and  respectful,  and,  whatever  may  be 
the  motive,  they  seem  desirous  to  please,  to  sei*ve,  and  to  oblige. 
Every  manner  of  small  traffic  is  going  on  among  them.  Bread, 
cabbages,  and  cakes,  were  sold  or  gambled  for  according  to  the  taste 
of  the  customer.  A  "  vagrom  "-looking  fellow  flourishes  a  painted 
pasteboard  quiver,  and  turns  it  upside  down,  and  chopsticks  fall 
from  it  instead  of  arrows.  Combative  sparrows  and  canaries  chal- 
lenge each  other  through  their  cages,  and  a  boy  carries  a  pretty 
brown  bird,  smaller  than  the  oriole  or  the  mocking-bird,  and  which, 
seeming  a  reconciled  captive,  sings  sweetly  out  a  merry  invitation 

to  a  gentle  purchaser. 
11 


122  JAPAX,   CniXA,   AND   COCHIX   CHINA. 

The  Pei-lio  forms  a  basin  thirty  or  forty  yards  wide,  which  is 
here  crowded  with  little  junks  or  boats,  most  of  which  are  used  for 
dwellings.  The  town  stands  on  a  terrace  which  rises  gently  from 
the  river.  There  is  no  dock,  wharf,  or  storehouse,  on  the  bank  be- 
tween the  river  and  the  terrace.  The  uncovered  sewage  of  the  city 
has  worn  the  sloping  bank  into  channels,  and  between  these  chan- 
nels are  promiscuous  deposits  of  merchandise  and  heaps  of  compost, 
all  alike  prepared  for  shipping.  The  houses  on  the  terrace  are  low, 
but  many  of  them  have  quite  large  courts.  Their  fronts  are  covered 
with  fanciful  sign-boards.  At  a  bend  of  the  river  before  us  rises 
a  lofty  pagoda  of  seven  stories ;  the  first  structure  of  this  form 
which  we  have  seen.  We  wonder  that  it  is  not  more  extensively 
copied  in  the  West,  and  especially  why  it  is  not  adopted  in  place 
of  our  unshapely  and  cheerless  light-house.  The  name  ixigoda  is 
in  common  use,  but  dagoha  is  in  use  also.  A  distinction  is  made, 
however.  When  the  structure  is  small^  and  is  enclosed  in  an  area 
with  a  temple,  it  is  called  dagoba.  On  the  other  hand,  when  it 
stands  by  itself,  its  design  is  for  ornament  more  than  use  ;  it  is 
then  called  pagoda.  A  learned  Chinese  authority  tells  us  that 
every  structure  of  the  kind,  whether  pagoda  or  dagoba,  contains 
relics  of  some  saint  or  martvr. 

Say  what  men  may,  there  is  a  power  in  gilded  epaulets  and 
buttons.  Our  naval  friends,  strong  in  that  power,  opened  an  easy 
way  for  us  through  the  inquisitive  multitude ;  but,  in  climbing  the 
slimy  bank  of  the  terrace,  we  encountered  an  obstacle  which  neither 
gold  lace  nor  buttons  could  displace.  This  was  a  caravan  of  thirty 
laden  camels,  in  single  file,  as  they  always  move,  just  beginning 
their  long  journey  over  the  steppes  of  liussia  to  Moscow.  The 
imperturbable  beasts,  thickly  covered  with  long,  scraggy  hair,  trod 
firmly  but  slowly  with  their  spreading,  padded  feet.  Keaching  a 
terrace,  we  were  as  yet  only  in  a  suburb.  After  many  efforts,  we 
were  obliged  to  give  up  the  exploration.  Every  street  is  a  deep, 
broad  gutter,  now  rendered  impassable  by  mud  and  rain.  We  re- 
turned to  the  front,  and  contented  ourselves  with  looking  into  the 
dwellings  and  shops.  The  occupants  were  neatly  dressed,  seemed 
intelligent,  came  out   of  their   doors,  and   saluted   us,  tendering 


A  POLITE   CIIIXESE.  123 

their  hands  and  inviting  us  to  enter.  One,  quite  distingue,  bowed 
us,  with  a  politeness  that  was  irresistible,  into  a  wide  court,  bor- 
dered by  dwellings  and  shops.  He  indicated  a  knowledge  that 
we  are  from  the  AYest  bj  pointing  to  a  Russian  chart  of  Europe, 
hanging  on  the  wall.  On  this  we  made  a  rough  Mercator  sketch 
of  the  globe.  He  at  once  marked  on  it  the  sites  Tung-Chow, 
Moscow,  and  Kew  York.  He  served  delicious  tea,  quickly  prepared, 
with  sugar  crystallized  into  rock-candy  to  sweeten  it,  and  Russian 
cigarettes.  Then  he  showed  us  his  money-scales,  strings  of  cash, 
numerating  balls,  bills  of  exchange,  receipts,  and  books  of  account, 
all  neatly  and  carefully  arranged.  He  called  in  his  tidy  and  re- 
spectable assistants  and  clerks,  and  with  special  pride  introduced  to 
us  his  pretty  son  and  heir  of  six  years.  We  were  bowed  and 
"  chin-chinned  "  by  our  host  with  his  whole  family  and  retinue,  and 
then  read  on  his  sign-board  inscriptions  which  told  that  the  place 
is  at  once  one  of  entertainment  for  travellers,  and  an  agency  for 
the  sale  of  teas  in  the  Russian  trade.  We  breakfasted  in  our  naval 
dinino;-room  on  the  river  at  eio-ht.  It  is  now  eleven  o'clock. 
Every  thing  has  been  brought  ashore,  and  has  been  packed  in  carts 
and  sedan-chairs.  Ponies,  mules,  and  donkeys,  stand  in  formal 
array  on  the  bank,  for  the  whole  party,  which  numbers  forty-seven 
Americans,  besides  Chinese  servants,  drivers,  waiters,  and  attend- 
ants. Captain  Tilden,  on  horseback,  and  his  tall  marines  mounted 
on  low  donkeys,  make,  it  must  be  confessed,  a  rather  ludicrous 
cavalry  display,  but  perhaps  not  ineffective  for  China.  We  take 
our  chairs  for  Peking. 


CHAPTEE  YI. 

AimiVAL  AT  PEKING. 

Passing  through  Tung-Chow. — Good  Behavior  of  the  People. — The  Road  to  Peking. — 
A.  Dangerous  Highway. — Daniel  Webster  and  John  Adams. — A  Review  of  Our 
Party. — A  Grotesque  Procession.— The  Eastern  Gate  of  Peking. — The  Separation 
of  the  Party. — Anxiety  for  Mr.  Seward. — In  Woful  Plight. — An  Explanation. — 
Arrival  at  the  U.  S.  Legation. 

Peking^  November  3d. — The  Government  at  Peking,  apprised 
of  Mr.  Seward's  coming,  had  sent  forward  two  intelligent  mandarins 
to  attend  him  to  the  capital.  These  officers  at  Tung-Chow  sent  up 
a  messenger  to  report  the  array  and  progress  of  the  party,  in  order 
that  arrangements  might  be  made  for  its  safe  and  proper  entrance 
into  the  city. 

What  could  be  more  gratifying  to  our  national  and  personal 
pride  than  the  prospect,  thus  opened  to  us,  of  a  kind  and  dis- 
tinguished reception  ?  "We  took  our  way  up  the  shelving  levee,  but 
without  a  road  or  path.  We  went  a  long  distance  down  and  across 
the  ditches,  which  teemed  with  noxious  vapors  arising  from  the 
vegetable  merchandise  and  offal  of  the  city.  At  length  our  man- 
darins brought  us  up  from  the  river's  edge  into  bustling  lanes, 
varying  from  five  to  twelve  feet  wide.  The  population  gathered 
to  see  a  procession  so  unique,  and  probably  to  them  imposing. 
After  a  full  half-mile,  we  descended  into  a  broad  ditch,  filled  with 
water  reekingly  offensive — a  treacherous  path  for  pedestrians,  but 
Chinese  chair-bearers,  like  Chinese  beasts,  are  sure  footed.  We 
passed  through  an  arch,  under  a  high  wall,  which  stands  on  the 


ADAMS  AND  WEBSTER.  125 

bank  of  a  moat.  "We  should  have  thought  that  we  were  now  leav- 
ing the  city  instead  of  entering  it,  if  the  ditch  had  been  on  the 
inner  side  of  the  wall.  The  city  contains  within  the  walls  not  less 
than  eighty  thousand  inhabitants.  Hours  must  have  been  spent  in 
getting  through  it,  had  not  a  military  or  municipal  force  met  us  at 
the  gates  and  cleared  the  way.  The  streets  were  lanes,  the  houses 
low,  cheap,  and  closely  crowded  together,  as  at  Tien-Tsin.  Our 
experience,  however,  in  passing,  was  particularly  pleasing.  The 
people  betrayed  nothing  of  the  hate  and  jealousy  w^hich  are  ascribed 
to  the  Chinese  by  the  Europeans  in  the  open  ports.  "Whether  they 
understood  Mr.  Seward's  public  character,  or  were  impressed  by 
his  white  hair,  white  Thibetian  great-coat,  and  black  Thibetian  cap, 
we  do  not  know,  but  the  entire  population,  young  and  old,  saluted 
him,  as  he  passed,  with  unmistakable  signs  of  veneration.  Emerg- 
ing from  the  farther  gate,  we  came  on  the  direct  road  to  Peking, 
distant,  some  say,  twenty-five  miles,  others  say  twelve  miles.  This 
road,  built  three  hundred  years  ago,  is  an  embankment  forty  feet 
wide,  and  twenty  feet  above  the  plain,  which  is  always  subject  to 
inundation.  The  whole  width  has  been  paved  with  hewn  granite 
blocks  four  or  five  feet  long,  two  feet  wide,  and  eight  inches  thick. 
These  blocks  were  originally  jointed  closely  and  fastened  with  iron 
clamps,  so  as  to  leave  no  crevice  or  unevenness  of  surface,  but  the 
elements  have  long  since  deranged  and  dislocated  the  pavement,  so 
that  it  cannot  be  travelled  now  either  by  wdieeled  vehicles  or  animals 
with  comfort  and  safety.  The  horsemen  and  carts  prefer  to  flounder 
through  the  sands  and  mud  of  the  plains  below,  rather  than  to  try 
this  dangerous  highway. 

"Admiral  Rodgers,"  said  Mr.  Seward,  as  they  kept  their  chairs 
side  by  side  on  this  road,  "  did  you  ever  hear  of  the  inteiwiew  of 
Mr.  "Webster  with  John  Adams,  the  day  before  his  death  ? "  "  No." 
"Mr.  Webster  said  to  the  old  statesman,  '  How  do  you  do,  this  morn- 
ing, Mr.  Adams  ? '  '  IS'ot  very  well,'  he  replied  ;  '  I  am  living  in 
a  very  old  house,  Mr.  "Webster,  and,  from  all  that  I  can  learn,  the 
landlord  does  not  intend  to  repair.'  "  So,"  continued  Mr.  Seward, 
"  this  road  gives  me  a  more  painful  impression  than  any  thing  else 
I  have  seen  in  China — it  shows  that  the  Government  has  no  inten- 


126  JAPAN",   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

tioii  to  repair."  The  road  might  be  restored  as  perfectly  as  before, 
simply  by  reversing  the  blocks,  and  bringing  them  together  face 
downward.  A  clear  field  now  allowed  us  to  take  a  review  and  cen- 
sus of  our  party.  The  advance-guard  consisted  of  twelve  Chinese 
infantry.  They  wore  metallic  caps  in  the  shape  of  Mambrino's 
helmet,  torn  by  the  hand  of  Don  Quixote  from  the  head  of  the 
caitiif  barber ;  the  caps  fastened  by  long,  yellow  tassels.  Their 
uniform  consisted  of  blue  nankeen  trousers  and  tunics,  on  the  back 
of  w^hich  was  a  white  circular  ground,  bearing  the  inscription  in 
large,  black  Chinese  characters,  "  Yalor."  Next  came,  or,  rather, 
tried  to  come,  a  guard  of  twelve  United  States  marines  on  foot,  but 
the  nimble-footed  chair-bearers  crowded  so  closely  on  them  that  the 
entire  body  took  refuge  in  the  rear.  ]^ext  followed  the  four  chairs 
of  Mr.  Seward,  the  admiral,  and  the  ladies,  with  a  mounted  escort 
composed  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  party,  civil  and  military.  Then 
the  musicians  and  seamen  mounted  promiscuously  on  horses,  mules, 
and  donkeys.  The  sailors  found  it  equally  diflicult  to  keep  their 
seats  on  the  ponies,  and  their  feet  above-ground,  when  riding  the 
donkeys.  We  could  not  count  the  baggage-carts,  which,  under  the 
care  of  William  Freeman,  and  the  protection  of  a  guard  of  marines, 
brought  up  the  rear.  Having  prudently  determined  not  to  shock 
the  sensibility  of  the  Chinese  by  any  display  of  banners  or  musical 
instruments,  we  came  along  quietly  without  accident  or  incident, 
until,  at  a  distance  of  a  few  miles  from  Peking,  we  rose  upon 
the  fine  arched  brido-e  of  Palikao,  where  the  battle  memorable  in 
the  war  of  the  allies  against  China  was  fought,  and  in  which  the 
lately-dismissed  War  Minister  of  France  gained  his  title.  Here 
the  native  guard  halted  and  ranged  themselves  at  the  side  of  our 
cortege,  presented  arms,  and,  taking  respectful  leave  of  Mr.  Seward, 
returned  to  Tunjj-Chow. 

Wlien  we  had  passed  the  bridge,  the  sedan-chair  occupants,  as 
well  as  the  horsemen,  were  seized  with  a  mutual  desire  for  change. 
The  success  of  either  party  was  not  brilliant.  The  chair-riders, 
victims  of  misplaced  confidence,  tumbled  over  the  heads  of  the 
donkeys,  and  the  cruppers  of  the  mules  ;  the  mounted  party  spilled 
out  of  the  chairs.     The  country  through  which  we  passed  shows 


A  CniJTESE  ru:^ERAL.  127 

less  a  neglect  of  cultivation  than  a  dilapidation  of  estates.  Half- 
way on  the  road,  we  met  a  grotesque  procession.  First,  came  a 
band  of  thirty  or  forty  boys,  di-essed  in  scarlet  and  yellow,  whom 
we  might  have  mistaken  for  clowns,  bearing  staves  with  fantastic 
badges  of  authority.  Next,  a  band  of  musicians,  displaying  equal 
luxury  of  color,  banged  and  drummed  on  instruments  unlike  any 
thing  we  had  ever  seen.  Then  came  an  enormous  catafalque, 
pagoda-shaped,  mounted  on  wheels  whose  axles  just  escaped  the 
ground,  the  exterior  covered  with  scarl3t  cloth,  richly  trimmed  with 
gold  lace.  Within  was  an  elaborately-carved  coffin.  The  vehicle 
•was  rolled  forward  on  the  rough  road  by  eighty  bare-legged  coolies. 
The  rank  of  the  dead  determines  the  number  of  such  bearers. 

• 

Preceding  the  car  was  a  mournfully-dressed,  sad-looking  little 
woman,  holding  up  before  her  a  large,  painted  wooden  doll.  This 
figure  represents  the  wife  of  the  deceased,  and  is  to  be  buried  in  the 
grave  with  him,  as  her  proxy.  The  procession  showed  to  us  more 
courtesy  than  funeral-processions  ever  show  at  home — it  opened 
and  halted  to  allow  the  chairs  to  pass. 

At  last,  after  five  hours'  tedious  and  painful  travel  from  Tung- 
Chow,  we  obtained  a  full  view  of  the  great  Eastern  Gate  of  Peking, 
rising  above  monotonous  suburbs,  not  unlike  those  of  Tung-Chow. 
Here  the  pathway  on  the  plain  beloW  the  embankment  was  a 
smooth,  dry  sand.  How  could  Miss  Seward  resist  the  temptation 
to  exchange  her  chair  for  a  fine  Arabian  horse,  which  Mr.  Low,  the 
United  States  minister,  had  sent  down,  and  so  make  the  entry  into 
the  Chinese  capital  in  a  suitable  manner?  The  ride  was  exhila- 
rating, and  perhaps  excited  the  envy  of  the  less  fortunate  members 
of  the  party.  She  was  attended  by  two  friends,  one  gentleman 
on  horseback  and  another  on  a  donkey.  The  procession  reached 
the  suburbs  in  tolerable  order,  but  here  the  amusement  of  the 
journey  ended,  and  its  difficulties  and  sorrows  began.  The  worn- 
out  paved  road,  instead  of  keeping  high  and  dry  on  the  embank- 
ment, sank  fifteen  feet  below  the  level  of  the  streets.  It  had  been 
raining  continuously  in  Peking  for  three  weeks,  and  the  sunken 
road-bed  was  covered  with  mud  knee-deep.  Yillanous  Chinese 
carts,  going  both  ways,  crowded  the  entire  path,  obliging  not  only 


128  JAPAN,  CHINA,  AND  COCHIN   CHINA. 

the  chairs,  but  the  equestrians  and  pedestrians  of  the  party,  horses, 
mules,  donkeys,  and  all,  to  pick  and  find  their  way  on  the  broken, 
shelving,  furrowed,  crowded  and  every  way  obstructed  bank,  be- 
tween the  houses  and  the  road-bed. 

We  do  not  know  how  nor  where  the  little  mounted  party  last 
mentioned  fell  under  the  guidance  of  a  mute  Chinaman  on  a  strong, 
fast  horse.  Pointing,  however,  to  his  red  cap,  either  as  a  mark 
for  them  to  follow,  or  as  a  badge  of  his  authority,  he  hastened  them 
forward  and  onward.  Only  for  a  short  time  they  saw  their  friends 
in  the  chairs  coming  on,  but  falling  more  and  more  behind.  Thev 
passed  under  the  great  Eastern  Gate,  too  much  terrified  to  studv 
its  architecture.  They  turned  into  a  narrow  lane,  then  by  a  zigzag 
movement  into  another,  at  times  crossing  broader  streets  which 
were  obstructed  with  carts,  booths,  merchandise,  and  theatres  j 
then  again  into  lanes,  dark,  deserted,  and  ruinous.  If  any  one  can 
conceive  an  obstruction  not  described,  it  may  be  brought  into  this 
picture.  Now  they  climbed  steep,  slippery  embankments,  dashing 
and  splashing  agaiust  stone  posts,  sign -boards,  and  booths,  scatter- 
ing angry  passengers,  then  pitching  into  nauseous,  muddy  pits. 
They  not  only  lost  all  idea  of  courses  and  distances,  but  also  lost 
sight  of  our  whole  column,  and  were  effectually  lost  by  them.  It 
recpiired  intense  and  watchful  effort  to  keep  the  saddle.  What 
could  all  this  mean  ?  Was  the  mute  Chinese  guide  a  decoy,  lead- 
ing into  an  ambush?  What  could  be  the  motive  in  bringing:  a 
stranger  and  a  woman  there  ?  If  not  a  decoy,  why  were  they  led  by 
a  course  so  blind  and  tortuous  ?  Why  were  they  separated  from  Mr. 
Seward  and  our  gallant  defenders?  Perplexed  with  anxiety  for 
themselves,  and  even  greater  anxiety  for  Mr.  Seward  and  his  friends, 
they  halted  and  beckoned  to  the  red-capped  conductor  for  a  parley. 
Mr.  Middleton  rode  back  as  nearly  as  he  could  over  the  way  he  had 
come,  in  search  of  "our  absent  friends."  He  rejoined  them  after  a 
period  which  seemed  an  age,  and  reported  that  Mr.  Seward,  nor 
th3  admiral,  nor  man  nor  woman,  nor  beast  nor  baggage,  nor  any 
other  thing  belonging  to  the  party,  could  be  found.  Meantime 
crowds,  which  their  imagination  swelled  to  the  entire  population  of 
the  city,  gathered  around  them  in  that  woful  plight.     Well  might 


A  DISAGREEABLE   RIDE.  129 

they  be  "in  wonder  at  tlieir  case,  and  be  perplexed  at  their  condi- 
tion," for,  as  the  Arab  liistorian  says,  "  their  state  was  wonderful, 
and  their  case  was  extraordinary."  Among  all  these  crowds  there 
was  not  one  woman,  nor  was  there  a  man  or  boy,  who  gave  one 
cheering  or  encouraging  or  sympathizing  word,  glance,  or  sign. 
The  mute  signed  to  move  on.  Manifestly,  any  place  was  safer 
than  this.  Only  two  subsequent  incidents  of  that  distracted  ride 
are  remembered  :  the  first,  that  in  a  narrow  street  they  encountered 
a  train  of  loaded  camels  as  long  as  that  we  had  seen  in  the  morn- 
ing at  Tung-Chow.  These  would  move  neither  forward  nor  back- 
ward, nor  give  room  on  the  right  or  on  the  left  to  let  them  pass. 
They  grazed  alternately  the  walls  and  the  bea'sts,  and  it  is  even  now 
a  wonder  how  they  escaped  being  dismounted  and  trodden  under 
foot.  The  other  incident  was  a  momentary  glimpse  of  a  stately 
temple,  which,  with  blue  porcelain  roof  and  gilded  dome,  towered 
high  above  an  unbroken  expanse  of  low,  mean,  and  vulgar  dwell- 
ings, only  varied  by  intervening  heaps  of  ruins.  They  then  plunged, 
as  it  seemed,  deeper  than  before  into  miry  pits  and  squalid  masses, 
now  only  anxious  not  to  lose  sight  of  the  red  cap  of  the  mysterious 
cicerone,  far  in  advance,  and  at  the  same  time  listening  to  catch 
the  notes  of  the  tinkling  bells  for  reassurance  that  their  donkey- 
mounted  companion  was  not  lost.  At  last,  and  all  at  once,  they 
turned  a  high  wall,  and  entered  through  a  substantial  gate-way  a 
spacious  open  court,  over  which  was  waving  the  constellation  of 
thirty-seven  stars  and  its  thirteen  red-and-white  stripes.  Their  grati- 
tude was  even  greater  than  their  surprise  at  finding  Mr.  Seward  and 
Miss  Risley  already  at  the  legation.  His  adventurous  journey,  as 
he  described  it,  had  been  even  more  perplexing  than  theirs.  Sepa- 
rated from  them  and  from  the  rest  of  the  party,  he,  like  them,  had 
at  once  lost  all  knowledge  of  both,  not  knowing  that  he  had  any 
guide  except  the  two  mandarins  who  had  accompanied  us  from 
Tien-Tsin,  and  who  now  trod  along  side  of  his  chair,  as  he  was  con- 
veyed by  a  route  entirely  diiferent  from  those  which  had  been  taken 
by  the  other  portions  of  the  party,  and  equally  narrow,  obstructed, 
and  dangerous.  At  times,  he  jostled  against  camel-caravans ;  at 
other  times,  against   motley,  hurrying   crowds ;   now   crossing   a 


130  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

muddy  moat,  then  scaling  the  slippery  glacis  of  a  frowning  bastion, 
he  occasionally  had  a  glimpse  of  the  admiral's  chair,  or  Miss  Ris- 
ley's,  or  of  a  mounted  marine  or  musician,  but  these  invariably 
crossed  his  track,  or  were  going  in  an  opposite  direction.  He  had 
his  thoughts  and  his  anxieties.  He  now  said  he  could  never  for- 
give the  admiral,  or  the  naval  officers,  or  the  consul-general,  who 
had  suffered  our  carefully-organized  and  well-armed  procession  to 
be  broken  into  fragments,  and  scattered  through  the  lanes,  alleys, 
and  ditches  of  the  semi-barbarian  city.  While  we  were  exchanging 
these  explanations,  the  remaining  fragments  of  the  party,  civilians, 
officers,  marines,  and  baggage,  not  forgetting  trusty  Freeman,  more 
frightened  than  all,  came  so  rapidly  with  their  chairs,  horses,  mules, 
and  donkeys,  into  the  court-yard,  that  the  arrival  seemed  almost 
simultaneous,  as  it  certainly  was  of  one  accord. 

We  soon  found  out,  but  not  w^ithout  much  inquiry,  how  it  hnd 
come  to  pass  that  our  entrance  into  the  capital,  contrary  to  our  ex- 
pectation, w^as  so  irregular  and  disorderly.  The  Chinese  Govern- 
ment is  at  this  moment  profoundly  anxious  to  prevent  a  renewal 
of  the  popular  commotions  which  have  recently  culminated  in  the 
tragedy  of  Tien-Tsin.  They  had  been  informed,  by  the  messenger 
whom  the  mandarins  dispatched  from  Tung-Chow,  of  the  construc- 
tion and  organization  of  our  party.  They  had  stipulated  with  Mr. 
Low  that  our  band  should  not  play  along  the  road,  or  in  the  streets 
of  Peking.  They  had,  moreover,  cautiously  sent  forward  a  compe- 
tent number  of  mounted  guides,  wearing  red  caps,  with  instruc- 
tions to  break  up  our  formidable  procession  at  the  Eastern  Gate, 
and  to  conduct  each  portion  by  a  different  route  through  the  most 
quiet  and  obscure  parts  of  the  city,  to  meet  only  at  the  legation. 

Mr.  Seward  now  declined,  with  many  thanks,  the  invitation  of 
the  Hussian  minister,  received  before  he  left  home,  and  we  became 
guests  of  Mr.  Low,  who,  with  true  Californian  hospitality,  would 
allow  no  member  of  the  party  to  find  a  home  outside  of  the  lega- 
tion. Wearied  by  the  tedious  boat-journey  from  Tien-Tsin,  and 
the  fatigues  and  anxieties  of  our  grand  entry  into  the  Chinese  capi- 
tal, we  unanimously  waived  the  wassail,  wine,  and  music,  offered 
us  at  the  legation,  and  retired  to  an  early  rest. 


CHAPTEE  YII. 

RESIDENCE  IN  PEKING. 

Aspect  of  Peking. — Walk  on  the  Wall. — The  Foreign  Population  of  Peking. — Two  Amer- 
ican Chinese. — Native  Wares. — The  Foreign  Ministers. — The  Russian  Minister. — 
The  British  Legation. — Influence  of  the  United  States. — The  Hall  of  Science. — Mr. 
Seward's  Audience  with  the  Imperial  Cabinet. — A  Ladies'  Day. — Chinese  Ladies. — 
A  Chinese  Mansion. 

Peking^  Novemher  Mh. — The  legation  is  the  spacious  and  com- 
fortable dwelling  which  was  built  by  the  eminent  Dr.  Williams,  so 
long  secretary  and  interpreter,  and  not  unfrequently  charge.  It 
was  occnpied  by  Mr.  Burlingame,  and  Mr.  Seward  now  agrees  that 
it  would  have  been  wise,  when  it  was  practicable,  to  have  purchased 
it  for  the  United  States  Government.  There  neither  is  in  Peking, 
nor  any  other  place,  a  building  so  suitable,  nor  could  one  be  more 
economically  built. 

After  the  relation  of  our  experience  in  entering  the  city,  we 
need  say  little  of  the  general  aspect  of  Peking.  The  population 
is  about  one  million.  Differing  from  other  Chinese  cities,  its 
streets  are  broad  enough,  but  dilapidation  and  ruin  mar  the  scenes 
of  highest  activity,  while  the  roadways  are  everywhere  full  of  ob- 
structions, always  ill-looking,  and  sometimes  nauseous  and  dis- 
gusting. There  are  no  sidewalks — seldom  a  pavement.  "With  the 
exception  of  an  occasional  private  lantern,  there  are  no  lights. 
Many  of  the  narrow  streets  are  rendered  impassable  by  upright 
stone  posts,  set  irregularly  in  the  street  for  the  very  purpose  of 
preventing  intrusion  or  passage.     Except  in  the  imperial  grounds, 


132  JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

there  are  no  gardens  and  no  fountains,  statues,  or  other  monuments 
— only  compact  masses  of  dwellings  and  shops,  low,  old,  and  mean. 
The  weather  is  cold,  damp,  and  dark.  A  visit  from  General 
Vlangally  has  been  the  incident  of  the  day.  The  prevailing  agita- 
tion resulting  from  the  Tien-Tsin  massacre  is  the  chief  subject  of 
conversation.  Mr.  "Warden,  at  Shanghai,  and  Mr.  Low  and  Dr. 
Williams,  here,  appear  to  be  almost  the  only  persons  in  China  who 
take  a  rational  and  statesmanlike  view  of  the  political  situation. 
"  We  must  take  a  walk  to  see  the  city,"  says  Mr.  Seward.  "  There 
is  no  walk  in  the  city,"  answers  General  Ylangally,  "except  on 
the  city  wall."  "  Yery  well,"  replies  Mr.  Seward,  "  then  let  us 
walk  on  the  city  wall." 

Peking,  November  4, 1870. — So  here  we  are — on  the  city  wall — 
not  the  outer  wall,  nor  yet  the  innermost  wall,  but  on  an  interior 
wall  which  divides  the  city  of  the  Tartar  conquerors  from  the  Chi- 
nese city,  and  at  the  same  time  looks  over  the  innermost  wall  which 
encloses  the  city  where  the  emperor  resides,  which  is  therefore  called 
the  "sacred"  city.  We  have  reached  this  commanding  eminence 
just  at  the  hour  when  the  morning  sun  is  lighting  up  the  snow- 
clad  mountains  which  bound  the  valley  of  the  Pei-ho  in  the  west. 
It  is  cold,  but,  with  furs  elsewhere  superfluous,  and  exercise  quite 
unusual,  we  can  bear  it.  The  legation,  where  we  reside,  opens  on 
the  bank  of  the  now  dry  moat,  which  lies  at  the  foot  of  the  wall. 
The  wall  is  thirty  feet  high.  We  have  walked  several  miles  on 
this  elevation,  looking  down  from  the  parapets  on  the  scene  around 
us,  and  have  wondered  at  the  numerous  gates,  all  lofty,  massive, 
and  grand ;  have  counted  the  thousand  towers,  bastions,  and  ram- 
parts ;  surveyed  the  walls  of  the  outer  and  inner  cities ;  have  con- 
templated their  watch-towers,  garrisons,  and  arsenals  ;  and  have 
shrunk  back  from  an  estimate  of  the  number  of  the  gilded  palaces 
and  temples.  If  we  remember,  we  recorded  yesterday,  before 
coming  up  hither,  that  Peking  is  a  most  unsightly  and  wretched 
city.  It  seems  to  us  now,  although  walled  cities  are  unfamiliar  to 
our  experience,  that  Peking  is  the  only  city,  we  have  ever  seen, 
sufficiently  majestic  to  be  a  seat  of  empire. 


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ARTISTIC  IMPOSTURE.  133 

True,  these  walls,  built  six  hundred  years  ago,  have  failed  to 
protect  Peking  against  the  allied  forces  of  Great  Britain  and 
France,  and  they  are  confessedly  useless  for  a  defence  in  the  mod- 
ern system  of  warfare.  But,  like  all  the  castellated  and  ecclesiasti- 
cal structures  of  the  middle  ages,  they  are  sublime  and  impressive. 
True,  even  outer  walls  cramp  the  growth  of  cities,  while  interior 
partitions  and  subdivisions  must  have  an  unwholesome  effect  and 
be  otherwise  intolerable.  But  the  castellated  walls  of  the  middle 
ages  are  none  the  less  imposing  for  all  this.  The  walls  of  Peking 
address  themselves  no  longer  to  the  reason,  but  to  the  imagina- 
tion. No  Chinaman,  unless  in  military  or  civil  employ,  and  no 
Chinese  woman  under  any  circumstances,  is  allowed  to  go  upon  the 
walls.  Why  do  a  people  so  jealous  allow  foreigners  this  privilege  ? 
It  is  allowed  because  they  insist  upon  it.  Could  there  be  a 
stronger  e\ndence  that  China  wearies  and  gives  way  before  the 
ever-increasing  importunity  and  exaction  of  the  Western  nations  ? 
We  now  recall  the  fact  that  it  was  stated  by  Mr.  Burlingame,  at 
Auburn,  that  this  concession  was  first  made  to  himself  and  Su* 
Frederick  Bruce.  * 

Unhappily,  a  closer  inspection  of  the  wall  and  its  accessories 
enables  us  to  see  that  much  of  its  impressive  effect  is  derived  from 
artistic  imposture.  Arsenals,  capacious  enough  for  the  ordnance 
of  the  Washington  Navy- Yard,  contain  only  a  few  awkwardly- 
mounted  guns.  Painted  cannons  in  the  embrasures  are  substituted 
for  real  guns. 

In  China  the  national  flag  is  never  seen  singly.  There  are 
always  double  flag-staffs.  Each  gate-way  has  a  rampart  to  pre- 
vent the  direct  approach  of  an  enemy.  The  wall  is  an  earthen 
embankment  twenty-five  feet  thick  at  the  base,  the  outer  face 
covered  with  large,  hard,  gray  bricks,  easily  mistaken  for  hewn 
stone.  During  the  day  the  gates  are  wide  open,  and  there  is  an 
indiscriminate  commingling  of  the  populations  of  the  Tartar  and 
the  Chinese  cities,  undistinguishable  at  least  by  strangers.  Yet 
such  is  the  power  of  habitual  jealousy  that  the  gates  are  peremp- 
torily and  absolutely  closed  from  sunset  until  sunrise.  A  denizen 
of  one  city  left  in  the  other  at  the  closing  must  remain  until  morn- 


134  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

ing.  We  look  doAvn  easily  into  the  interior  city,  tlie  residence  of 
the  emperor,  and  therefore  "  the  Prohibited."  Its  gates,  like  the 
others,  are  ojien  during  the  day,  but  they  are  carefully  guarded, 
and  none  but  the  privileged  residents  are  allowed  to  enter,  except 
by  special  order.  The  palaces  bear  no  resemblance  in  form  or 
structure  to  the  royal  dwellings  of  the  West.  They  are  spacious, 
and,  being  covered  with  yellow  tiled  roofs,  and  elsewhere  showing 
a  commingling  of  light  yellow  and  green,  they  have  an  appearance 
of  newness  or  recent  repair  which  is  in  strong  contrast  with  the 
outer  city.  The  "  Prohibited  City  "  is  divided  by  a  wall  into  two 
areas.  In  one  of  these  the  emperor  resides  with  his  family,  while 
the  other  is  open  to  the  ministers  of  state.  "\Ve  may  have  an 
opportunity  to  look  more  closely  into  this  latter  area. 

The  brick  facing  of  all  these  walls  is  giving  way.  The  culverts 
under  them,  besides  many  parts  of  the  fortifications,  are  dilapi- 
dated, and  the  moat  is  either  altogether  dry  or  only  partially  filled 
with  stagnant  pools. 

We  have  come  down  from  the  walls.  What  is  the  foreis-n 
population  of  Peking?  Did  you  say  five  thousand?  Two  thou- 
sand ?  One  thousand  ?  It  is  only  two  hundred — diplomatic  min- 
isters, clerks,  attachSs  and  retainers,  and  missionary  ministers,  all 
told.  Mr.  Seward  has  held  an  audience  of  the  whole  to-day.  Each 
legation  occupies  a  closed  area,  a  "compound"  assigned  by  the 
Government  for  that  purpose.  Only  a  narrow  lane  divides  the 
legation  of  the  United  States  from  that  of  Russia. 

Two  Chinese  were  announced  this  morning.  They  came  in 
very  costly  native  attire,  shaven,  wearing  the  pig-tail,  and  their 
feet  cased  in  white-soled  mandarin  boots.  To  our  surprise,  they 
accosted  Mr.  Seward  in  English,  calling  his  recollection  to  an 
acquaintance  with  him  in  the  State  Department  at  Washington. 
Surprised  at  this,  he  excitedly  asked,  how  and  where  they  had 
learned  the  English  language  so  well.  "Is  it  possible,"  they 
answered,  "  that  you  mistake  us  for  Chinese  ?  We  are  your  own 
countrymen,  and  you  saw  us  in  service  wdien  you  visited  Fort 
Corcoran  on  Arlington  Heights."  Tliese  two  officers  have  with 
great  adroitness  been  engaged  by  an  American  mercantile  house  in 


NATIVE  TRADERS.  135 

Cliina  to  acquire  the  mandarin  language,  to  enable  tliem  to  act  as 
agents  in  trade.  On  arriving  at  Peking  for  that  purpose,  they 
assumed  the  Chinese  habit,  and,  abandoning  for  the  time  all  foreign 
society,  they  coniined  themselves  exclusively  to  Chinese  inns  and 
Chinese  society.  They  say  they  have  done  this  with  so  much 
success  that  they  have  never  been  detected  by  the  natives,  except 
when  surprised  in  making  their  toilet.  The  natives  they  meet 
with  often  say  tliat  their  Chinese  is  imperfect,  but  they  suppose 
it  to  be  a  dialect  of  Thibet  or  some  distant  province  of  the  empire. 
Of  course,  we  must  not  disclose  their  names. 

Our  band  of  music,  having  been  released  from  its  durance,  has 
played  for  every  foreign  minister,  who  came  to  visit  us,  the  na- 
tional air  of  his  own  country.  It  has  cheered  us  at  lunch,  and 
awakened  the  echoes  at  the  elegant  dinner  given  us  at  the  Russian 
legation,  and  it  ended  by  giving  the  spirited  dancing-music  for  the 
soiree  with  which  the  day  has  closed.  It  is  the  first  foreign  band 
of  music  that  has  ever  come  in  time  of  peace  to  Peking.  The  nov- 
elty attracts  native  crowds,  but  excites  no  ill  temper. 

PeJdng,  I^ovember  hth. — Deep  concern  this  morning  at  finding 
the  earth  covered  with  snow,  seeming  to  demand  an  early  depart- 
m*e  southward.  The  morning  was  spent  in  studying  and  chea]5en- 
ing  the  wares  brought  by  native  mer- 
chants,  and  spread  over  all  the  floors 
of  the  legation  —  bronzes,  porcelain, 
jasper,  jade,  amethysts,  and  emeralds, 
wrought  into  the  most  curious  shapes 
— sea-otter,  sable,  Thibetian  goat,  As- 
trakhan, wolf,  white  fox,  red  fox,  bear, 
panther,  and  tiger  skins.  We  shall  not  report  our  bargains, 
farther  than  that  we  bought  a  lapis-lazuli  cat  for  two  dollars,  for 
which  the  merchant's  first  price  was  twenty-five  dollars,  and  that 
Mr.  Seward  retired  in  disgust  from  the  trade  when  his  ofter  of  five 
dollars  was  taken  up  for  a  lignum-vitce  box,  for  which  the  vender 
had  all  day  demanded  fifty  dollars.  As  fir  as  the  furs  are  con- 
cerned, our  friends  at  home,  to  whom  we  send  the  purchases,  will 
12 


LAPI8-LAZULI  CAT. 


136  JAPAN,    CHINA,    AXD   COCHIN   CHINA. 

judge.  Let  this  detail  serve  as  an  instruction  that,  as  tea  is  the 
staple  vegetable  production  in  China,  so  furs  are  the  great  import 
of  Peking.  It  is  the  central  market  for  the  northern  regions  of 
the  continent. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  while  the  ancient  civilization  of  China 
favored  perfection  in  the  use  of  the  loom  and  the  needle  in  the 
manufacture  of  silk,  cotton,  and  embroidery,  it  seems  not  to  have 
brought  into  use  either  the  loom  or  the  needle  in  the  manulacture 
of  woollen  fabrics.  The  want  of  woollen  clothes  in  the  winter, 
among  the  poorer  classes,  is  supplied  by  cotton  and  silk,  wadded 
and  Cjuilted.  Such  garments  admit  of  no  washing  and  little  change. 
The  class  a  little  higher  clothe  themselves  in  dried  sheep-skins 
with  the  wool  on ;  but  every  person,  who  can  afford  the  luxury, 
dresses  in  fur — the  richer  the  person,  the  more  elegant  and  costly 
his  robes  of  sable.  Siberia  sends  her  furs  to  Peking,  and  so  does 
Alaska.  The  Tartars  and  Russians,  after  the  Chinese,  are  the 
largest  purchasers. 

N'ovember  5fh.  —  Peking  wears  everywhere  the  asj^ect  of  a 
political  rather  than  a  commercial  capital.  Pevolution  has  not 
worked  out  here  any  such  political,  social,  or  military  changes  as 
at  Yeddo.  It  is  the  residence  of  idle,  profitless,  perhaps  often 
profligate  retainers  of  the  Government. 

Noveiriber  Qith. — A  correspondence  much  more  intimate  than 
is  generally  understood  exists  between  the  several  cabinets  of 
the  world.  By  international  usage,  the  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  at  any  capital  is  the  head,  or,  as  our  Hibernian  friends 
would  express  it,  the  "head  centre"  of  the  diplomatic  body  there. 
Mr.  Seward  having  occupied  that  position  at  Washington,  the 
magic  ring  readily  opens  to  him,  wherever  we  go.  The  circle  at 
Peking  is  rather  a  contracted  one  just  now.  The  Russian  minister 
is  doyen.  Distinguished  by  military  service  in  the  Crimea,  he  is 
a  discreet,  modest,  and  intelligent  gentleman,  and  is  understood  to 
exercise  very  considerable  influence  over  the  Chinese  cabinet, 
while  he  enjoys  the  resj^ect  and  confidence  of  his  colleagues.     The 


THE   FOREIGN  MINISTERS.  137 

Kussian  legation  lias  a  spacious,  costly,  and  elegant  residence,  and 
au  imposing  personnel.  Besides  four  secretaries  and  a  surgeon,  it 
maintains  a  Greek  chapel,  open  to  native  converts,  and  a  Cossack 
guard,  with  extensive  stables.  The  German  legation  has  more 
moderate  appointments.  The  minister.  Baron  Rehfues,  is  respected 
for  his  large  experience.  The  British  representative,  Sir  Ruther- 
ford Alcock,  is  absent.  His  place  is  filled  by  Mr.  Wade,  against 
whom  there  is  a  universal  outcry,  among  the  foreigners  in  China, 
for  his  supposed  tameness  in  regard  to  the  matter  of  the  Tien- 
Tsin  catastrophe.  He  is,  nevertheless,  a  wise,  learned,  prudent, 
and  practical  minister.  Mrs.  Wade,  a  daughter  of  Sir  John  Her- 
sehel,  is  very  intellectual,  liberal  in  her  opinions,  and  earnest 
in  her  admiration  of  American  institutions.  During  the  social 
banishment  she  has  endured  here,  she  has  successfully  acquired 
the  difficult  mandarin  dialect.  The  British  Government  is  lavish 
toward  its  legation.  The  residence  was  purchased  at  large  expense 
from  one  of  the  imperial  princes,  and  repaired  last  year  at  a  cost 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  The  legation 
maintains  a  chapel,  four  secretaries,  six  diplomatic  pupils,  and  a 
strong  military  guard.  The  French  legation  has  Count  Rochefort 
acting  as  charge  Waffaires.  Far  less  discreet  than  our  excellent 
friend  Berthemy,  or  his  predecessor,  De  Montholon,  who  were  so 
acceptable  in  the  United  States,  Rochefort  has  proved  himself 
vehement,  impetuous,  impracticable,  and  inconstant  in  his  reclama- 
tions on  the  occasion  of  the  massacre  of  the  French  consul  and 
nuns  at  Tien-Tsin,  while  the  military  disasters  which  have  just 
overtaken  France  at  home  have  rendered  her  representative  here 
powerless.  The  Danish  and  Belgian  missions  are  only  occasional, 
and  little  more  than  nominal.  Their  incumbents  are  accredited  to 
Japan  as  well  as  to  China.  The  Dane  took  leave  of  us  at  Yeddo, 
to  repair  to  Peking  before  us,  but  has  not  yet  arrived.  Mr.  Low, 
the  United  States  minister,  is  a  very  able  man,  of  much  equa- 
nimity, enjoying  equally  the  confidence  of  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment and  that  of  the  diplomatic  corps.  The  appointments  of  this 
legation,  like  those  of  the  United  States  elsewhere,  are  moderate. 
Frederick  the  Great  hardly  practised  greater  parsimony  in  foreign 


138  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

diplomacy  than  our  Govci'nment  does.  Mr.  Low  has  iieitlier 
chapel,  nor  surgeon,  nor  official  dwelling-house.  He  has  one 
secretary,  who  is  also  his  interpreter,  and  no  guards.  Here,  as 
in  Japan,  we  hear  our  countrymen  lament  an  alleged  inferiority 
of  our  national  importance  and  influence.  They  complain  con- 
tinually of  Russian  ascendency  at  Peking,  as  they  do  of  British 
ascendency  at  Yeddo.  The  grievance  in  each  case  is  exagger- 
ated. The  archives  at  Washino-ton  show  that  Mr.  Burlino-ame, 
during  his  residence  here,  exerted  a  greater  influence  in  China 
than  any  or  all  of  his  colleagues.  Nor  has  Mr.  Low  lost  any 
of  this  prestige.  So  also  Mr.  Townsend  Harris,  Mr.  Pruyn,  and 
Mr.  Yan  Yalkenburgh,  as  well  as  Mr.  De  Long,  have  not  been 
surpassed  in  consideration  and  usefulness  by  foreign  representa- 
tives in  Japan.  J^evertheless,  the  influence  of  the  United  States 
in  either  country  is  far  less  distinguishable  in  the  shaping  of  meas- 
ures of  local  administration  than  that  of  Russia  or  that  of  Great 
Britain.  There  is  sufficient  reason  for  this,  without  derogating 
from  the  prestige  of  the  United  States.  They  are  a  distinct  nation. 
They  appear  in  China,  as  they  do  in  Japan,  in  the  character  of  a 
just  and  magnanimous  power.  They  ofier  little  but  equality  and 
fairness  in  political,  commercial,  and  social  intercourse,  and  they 
demand  no  advantages  that  are  not  equally  conceded  to  all  other 
powers.  Russia,  on  the  contrary,  is  not  only  a  near  neighbor  of 
China,  but  a  colossal  one.  The  commercial  and  political  relations 
existing  between  them  are  various  and  intimate.  The  populations 
of  the  border  provinces  of  the  two  empires  have  a  close  assimila- 
tion. Moreover,  Russia  advances  nearer  to  China  every  day  with 
her  railroads,  diligence-lines,  and  telegraph.  The  Chinese  know 
that,  while  the  friendship  of  Russia  is  invaluable,  she  may  never- 
theless prove  a  powerful,  if  not  fatal  enemy. 

The  prestige  of  Great  Britain  throughout  the  world,  even  on 
the  European  Continent,  is  derived  chiefly  from  the  dominion  and 
the  influence  she  wields  in  the  East,  and  the  commerce  which  re- 
sults. This  commerce,  again,  is  the  essential  support  of  the  manu- 
factures which  are  the  basis  of  the  prosperity  of  the  English  people. 
Great  Britain,  therefore,  wisely  spares  no  care  and  no  cost  in  main- 


THE   HALL   OF  SCIENCE. 


139 


taining  not  only  a  diplomatic  force,  but  a  naval  predominance,  in 
the  East.  India,  China,  and  Japan,  are  her  proper  theatre.  In 
this  great  national  policy  she  necessarily  encounters  rivalry  and 
resistance.  She  has  appeared  in  China  more  than  once  as  an 
enemy,  and  proved  her  power,  as  well  to  destroy  as  to  protect 
and  save.  It  suits  her  interest  to  be  here  now  as  a  magnanimous 
friend,  like  the  United  States.  Long  may  the  two  nations  remain 
in  that  accord ! 

Novemher  1th. — ^We  have  just  come  from  a  visit  to  the  for- 
lorn '•  Hall  of  Science."     The  Church  of  Home  has  been  perse- 


s,;i,"""  "V}Z. 


ANCIENT   OBSEEVATORT,   OE   UALL   OF   SCTENCE. 


veriug  in  its  attempts  to  Christianize  China,  but  has  left  there, 
thus  far,  only  monuments  of  its  failure.  One  of  them  is  the  Ob- 
servatory, otherwise  called  the  "Hall  of  Science."  The  great 
Protestant  Reformation  in  Europe  was,  as  every  one  knows,  fol- 
lowed by  a  hardly  less  remarkable  reaction  and  revival  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  originating  in  the  inspiration  of  Ignatius 


140  JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

Loyola,  and  conducted  cliieiij  by  the  Society  of  Jesus  wliicli  he 
founded.  In  IGSO,  the  Emperor  Kang-Hi  erected  on  the  wall 
of  the  Tartar  city  an  observatory,  committing  its  construction  and 
superintendence  to  Jesuit  professors,  ^vith  a  munificent  endowment. 
They  procured  in  Paris,  Yenice,  Genoa,  and  London,  bronze  astro- 
nomical instruments,  the  most  perfect  that  science  had  at  that  time 
suggested,  and  of  stupendous  magnitude  and  magnificent  execution. 
These  instruments,  set  up  in  the  open  air,  and  thus  exposed  with- 
out a7.iy  protection  against  the  weather  one  hundred  and  ninety 
years,  are  still  in  perfect  condition,  and  as  available  as  at  first. 
One  of  them  is  a  celestial  globe,  seven  feet  in  diameter,  with 
the  constellations  raised  upon  it,  showing  the  exact  condition  of 
astronomy  as  it  stood  two  centm'ies  ago.  Besides  this,  there  are  an 
astrolabe,  an  armillary  sphere,  trigonometers,  transit  instruments, 
and  quadrants.  Although  the  institution  remains,  the  circumstances 
which  attended  its  foundation  have  entirely  passed  away.  When 
the  Jesuits,  here  as  in  Japan,  betrayed  the  ambition  of  the  Church, 
they  were  dismissed  and  banished.  The  institution  fell  under  the 
care  of  native  professors,  by  whom  it  has  been  neglected.  At  the 
base  of  the  Observatory  is  a  shabby  suite  of  apartments,  in  which 
the  two  or  three  native  professors  dwell,  whose  business  it  is  to  cor- 
rect the  calendar  of  the  seasons  astronomically,  while  they  designate 
for  the  almanac  the  days  which  are  lucky  and  unlucky  for  births, 
marriages,  bargains,  journeys,  combats,  festivals,  and  funerals. 

JSfovem'ber  8th. — The  event  of  the  day  has  been  an  audience 
given  to  Mr.  Seward,  with  Admiral .  Rodgers,  by  the  Imperial 
Cabinet  (Yam en).  It  required  great  skill  and  much  care  to  organ- 
ize, arrange  and  mount  the  party.  If,  among  the  Western  nations, 
"  none  but  the  brave  deserve  the  fair,"  so,  in  China,  none  but  great 
mandarins  deserve  to  ride  in  chairs,  and  only  princes  and  ministers 
are  allowed  to  ride  in  green  chairs ;  and  this,  not  because  green 
suits  their  complexion  the  best,  but  because  green  in  China  is  the 
color  indicative  of  preeminent  rank.  So  Mr.  Seward,  Admiral 
Rodgers,  the  United  States  minister,  and  the  consul-general,  took 
their  seats  in  green  chairs,  while  the  staff  and  others  were  mounted 


INTEEVIEW  WITH  THE   CHINESE   CABINET.  14,1 

on  ponies,  so  far  as  the  capital  fiirnislied  a  supply.  The  "  balance," 
as  our  campaign-speakers  say,  went  in  carts.  The  progress  was 
on  the  avenue — not  Pennsylvania  Avenue  by  any  means,  but  the 
avenue  without  show  of  pavement,  which  leads  from  the  Imperial 
city,  through  the  Tartar  city  to  its  outer  wall.  It  was  obstructed 
with  auctions,  theatrical  entertainments,  gambling-rings,  and  every 
thing  else.  The  head  of  the  procession,  consisting  of  the  green 
chah's,  winding  its  way  among  these  obstructions  by  the  vigor  and 
adroitness  of  the  bearers,  reached  its  destination,  and  alighted  at 
the  porch  of  the  foreign  office.  It  is  a  low  Chinese  structure ;  the 
doors,  wide  open,  revealed  the  Yam  en  arranged  in  a  row  within 
to  receive  the  guests.  But  the  head  of  the  procession,  discovering 
that  the  tail  had  fallen  off,  decided  to  wait  outside,  until  the  lost 
member  should  reconnect.  This  made  a  delay  of  twenty  minutes, 
which,  as  we  suppose,  was  imperfectly  explained  to  the  ministers 
within,  who  made  an  unmistakable  demonstration  of  impatience. 
Perceiving  this,  the  head  entered,  leaving  the  caudal  part  to  come 
up  to  time  as  it  could.  In  the  middle  of  the  room  stood  a  table  of 
the  common  European  height,  eight  feet  long  and  three  feet  wide. 
Broad  and  comfortable  stools  were  placed  around  it ;  there  was  no 
carpet  or  other  furniture,  but  a  kind  of  divan  or  sofa  against  two 
sides  of  the  wall.  Mr.  Seward  and  his  chief  associates  of  the  green 
chairs  were  graciously  received  by  five  cliief  ministers  of  state,  all 
of  grave  aspect,  and  two  of  them  of  advanced  age.  They  were 
richly  dressed  in  silks,  over  which  were  spread  ermine  and  other 
furs.  They  saluted  their  guests  at  first  in  the  Chinese  fashion,  by 
bowing  with  hands  brought  palm  to  palm  on  their  breasts ;  after 
this  they  shook  hands  in  the  American  way.  All  the  ministers 
then  busied  themselves  in  a  somewhat  demonstrative  way  in  seat- 
ing their  guests.  Two  of  the  Chinese  ministers  took  their  seats  at 
the  upper  end  of  the  table,  in  the  order,  not  of  their  rank,  but  of 
seniority.  They  placed  Mr.  Seward  at  the  side  of  the  table  on  the 
left,  then  Mr.  Low,  then  the  admiral,  and  then  the  consul-general ; 
next  two  interpreters.  The  remaining  members  of  the  cabinet 
completed  the  circle.  The  table  was  thickly  spread  with  china 
dishes  filled  with  hon-hons  and  dried  fruits.     The  presiding  min- 


142 


JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 


ister  then  rose  and  announced  that  his  Imperial  Highness  Prince 
Kung,  regent  of  the  empire  during  the  minority  of  the  emperor, 
had  been  suddenly  attacked  this  morning  by  a  violent  illness,  on 
his  return  from  the  imperial  palace.     He  lamented  his  failure  to 


meet  Mr.  Seward,  as  he  had  appointed,  and  had  charged  the  cabi- 
net to  receive  him  with  this  apology,  or  to  postpone  the  audience 
to  a  future  occasion,  as  Mr.  Seward  himself  might  prefer.  The 
minister  said  he  was  charged  by  Prince  Kung  to  say  that  he  re- 
garded it  as  a  great  distinction  that  he  was  to  become  acquainted 
with  Mr.  Seward,  and  that  the  prince  intended  in  any  case,  as 
soon  as  he  should  recover  his  health,  to  visit  Mr.  Seward  at  his 
residence.  Although  Mr.  Seward  accepted  the  apology  without 
distrust  or  hesitation,  yet  all  the  members  of  the  cabinet  earnestly 
reenforced  it. 

Mr.  Seward  then  inquired  about  the  health  of  Wan-Siang,  who 
was  absent.  The  presiding  minister  replied  that  Wan-Siang  was 
ill,  and  had  just  obtained  leave  of  absence  from  his  post  in  the 
ministry  for  a  year,  to  mourn  the  death  of  his  mother.  But  they 
instantly  dispatched  a  courier  to  him,  communicating  Mr.  Seward's 
inquiries.     The  courier,  in  less  than  half  an  hour,  brought  a  mes- 


ANSON"  BURLINGAME.  143 

sage  of  tlianks  and  friendship  from  Wan-Siang.  Later  Mr.  Seward 
spoke  of  the  ability  which  Wan-Siang  had  displayed  in  his  negotia- 
tions with  the  United  States,  and  of  the  friendship  he  had  always 
manifested  toward  onr  country.  These  words,  like  Mr.  Seward's 
previous  inquiries,  were  taken  down  and  reported  to  Wan-Siang  by 
a  courier,  and  elicited  a  similar  reply.  The  ministers  spoke  with 
much  feeling  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Burlingame.  Mr.  Seward  said 
that  Mr.  Burlingame's  diplomatic  career  was  an  illustration  of  the 
highest  possible  success.  A  minister  lives  always  under  two  dis- 
tinct and  sometimes  irreconcilable  obligations  :  First,  he  must 
retain  the  confidence  of  his  own  country ;  secondly,  be  must  not 
fail  to  win  the  confidence  of  the  country  to  which  he  is  accredited. 
Mr.  Burlingame  filled  both  obligations,  and  thus  was  enabled  to 
unite  the  two  nations  in  a  new  bond  of  peace,  and  in  a  common 
effort  to  advance  civilization.  The  ministers  thought  themselves 
under  obligations  to  Mr.  Seward ;  in  the  first  instance,  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  Mr.  Burlingame  as  United  States  minister  to  China, 
and  then  for  receiving  him  as  minister  of  China  to  the  United 
States  and  Europe. 

Mr.  Seward  inquired  the  number  and  functions  of  the  "  Banner- 
men."  The  ministers  replied :  "  They  are  four  distinct  legions,  con- 
taining many  thousand  men.  They  all  reside  at  Peking.  They 
are  sworn  to  maintain  and  defend  the  emperor  in  all  conflicts, 
whether  at  home  or  abroad,  and  in  compensation  for  this  service 
they  all  receive  stipends  from  the  Government.  But  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  legions  is  worn  out.  The  service  is  a  sinecure,  costly, 
and  useless." 

Manifestly  the  ministers  feared  that  the  apologies  for  the  absence 
of  Prince  Kung  from  the  reception  might  be  thought  by  Mr.  Sew- 
ard insincere  and  evasive,  for  they  returned  to  the  subject  contin- 
ually. He  assured  them  that,  although  he  had  during  eight  years 
conducted  the  diplomatic  relations  of  the  United  States  with  China, 
yet  in  all  that  time  not  one  case  of  procrastination  or  subterfuge, 
on  the  part  of  the  regent,  had  occurred.  Mr.  Seward  hoped  for 
the  prince's  speedy  recovery,  and  begged  the  ministers  to  be  at 
their  ease  about  the  present  disappointment. 


1^4  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

The  senior  minister  then,  in  a  most  reverential  manner,  ad- 
dressed Mr.  Seward,  "  Wliat  is  your  venerable  age  ? "  Just  at  this 
solemn  stage  of  the  audience,  when  all  were  silently  waiting  for 
Mr.  Seward's  reply,  what  should  appear  but  the  tail  of  our  great 
national  procession !  Slowly  eliminating  itself  from  the  street,  it 
entered  the  gate,  crossed  the  court,  and  appeared  at  the  door.  All 
at  once  the  queued  sub-officials  of  the  foreign  office,  who  had 
gathered  there  to  be  witnesses  of  the  interesting  ceremony,  rushed 
upon  the  porch  to  discover  the  cause  of  the  interruption.  Proc- 
lamations were  then  made  in  Chinese  by  the  ministers  within, 
which  our  friends  outside,  not  waiting  for  an  interpretation,  under- 
stood to  be,  "  Make  way  for  the  tail !  "  Way  was  made,  and  quickly 
too,  but  where  the  amazed  native  lookers-on  went  to,  our  friends 
could  not  discover.  The  Chinese  ministers  all  five,  the  American 
guests  all  four,  and  the  intei-preters  twain,  rose  to  their  feet  to  re- 
ceive the  tail,  and  remained  in  that  respectful  attitude  until  that 
important  extremity  had  extended  itself  with  its  gilt  epaulets  and 
buttons,  its  blue  and  black  coats,  and  white  gloves,  on  the  row  of 
benches  around  the  room.  Order  being  restored,  the  presiding 
minister  renewed  the  suspended  inquiry.  Mr.  Seward,  looking 
around  him,  said :  "  I  think  I  am  neither  the  oldest  nor  the  youngest 
statesman  here.  I  am  sixty-nine.  I  hope  that  the  youngest  may 
live  to  reach  your  own  honorable  age,  which  I  understand  to  be 
seventy-five,  and  that  all  may  be  blessed  with  years  beyond  that 
age." 

This  answer  of  Mr.  Seward  was  received  with  great  hilarity  by 
the  Chinese  cabinet,  and  unanimously  pronounced  to  be  so  exqui- 
sitely courteous  as  to  deserve  a  bumper.  Thereupon  glasses  were 
brought  in,  filled  with  a  hot,  strong  di-ink,  which  they  called  wine. 
Then  folloAved  a  slow  and  measured  succession  of  delicate  viands, 
birds'-nest  soup,  pigeons'-eggs,  cabbages  minced,  and  tender  shoots 
of  bamboo  boiled,  pheasants,  grouse,  and  stewed  wild -ducks  of 
many  kinds,  fishes,  sharks' -fins  and  other  luxuries  with  names  un- 
known. These  dishes,  in  the  whole  numbering  not  less  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty,  were  severally  served  to  each  guest  in  the  smallest 
bits  on  tiny  plates,  which  at  last  crowded  and  encumbered  the  table. 


POETICAL  STATESMEN".  145 

These  plates  were  filled  by  the  ministers  from  tm-eens,  which  con- 
tinually replaced  each  other.  Each  visitor  was  provided  with  knife 
and  fork,  as  well  as  chop-sticks.  It  is  etiquette  here  for  each  person 
to  help  every  other  person  at  the  table  to  every  course  that  comes 
on.  Occasidnally,  Mr.  Seward  raised  a  political  question  of  some 
sort,  but  the  ministers  adroitly  passed  it  by.  "Whether  they  were 
unwilling  to  speak  freely  in  the  absence  of  the  regent,  or  whether 
they  feared  to  expose  themselves  before  the  crowded  Chinese  audi- 
ence, which  had  again  gathered  in  the  apartment,  Mr.  Seward  could 
not  determine.  We  learn  that  all  the  offices  of  the  Government 
are  filled  or  suspected  of  being  filled  w^ith  spies.  It  was  soon 
manifest  that  little  was  to  be  learned  of  Chinese  affairs  at  this 
magnificent  entertainment.  The  ministers,  with  evident  self-satis- 
faction, entertained  their  guests  with  familiar  Chinese  proverbs, 
epigrams,  and  riddles,  and  they  resolutely  persisted  in  accepting  as 
clever  every  thing  said  by  Mr.  Seward,  or  either  of  the  other  guests, 
however  commonplace  it  might  be.  Two  of  the  ministers  are 
poets ;  they  rehearsed  their  own  verses  and  other  Chinese  poetry, 
with  marked  emphasis  and  at  great  length.  Keither  of  the  inter- 
preters, however,  could  render  these  verses  into  intelligible  English. 
But  the  guests  received  the  rehearsal  as  fine,  nevertheless. 

One  of  the  ministers  said  :  "  Mr.  Seward,  your  complexion  is  very 
fresh  and  your  step  vigorous.  You  must  have  a  secret,  which  en- 
ables you  to  preserve  them  through  such  great  labors  and  travels." 

"  You  are  complimentary,"  answered  Mr.  Seward ;  "  what 
health  and  strength  I  have  are  due  to  activity  and  exercise." 

To  this  one  of  the  poetical  ministers  responded :  "  Yes,  every 
thing  in  the  universe  is  constantly  active ;  only  the  Creator  of  all 
is  at  rest." 

Mr.  Seward  now  began  to  understand  that  this  reception  was 
intended  less  as  an  audience  than  as  a  feast,  and  that  drinking  deep, 
or  at  least  often,  is  here  a  requirement  of  such  an  entertainment. 
The  ministers  descanted  both  in  prose  and  poetry,  with  proverbs 
and  epigrams,  on  the  virtue  of  hospitality,  and  the  excellence  of 
conviviality.     They  drank  deep  and  filled  up  often. 

Addressing  Admiral  Rodgers,  one  of  the  two  Anacreons  insisted 


146  JAPAIt/ CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

that  tlie  best  proof  of  friendship  that  one  can  give  at  an  entertain^ 
ment  is,  to  get  drunk.     All  his  associates  facetiously  concurred. 

Admu-al  Rodgers  answered :  "  I  accept  the  generous  sentiment, 
and  I  invite  all  the  members  of  the  cabinet  to  get  as  drunk  as 
possible,  and  as  quickly  as  they  can." 

The  cabinet  showed  its  appreciation  of  the  admiral's  repartee 
by  vehement  laughter  and  much  gesticulation.  At  least,  one  of 
them  took  the  gallant  admiral  at  his  word,  and  drank  much  deeper 
than  before. 

The  hospitality  of  the  ministers  was  not  monopolized  by  the 
head  of  the  procession.  Dainty  dishes  and  strong  drinks  were 
served  to  the  tail  as  it  lay  stretched  along  the  benches.  They  were 
discussed  with  entire  satisfaction,  but  in  respectful  though  wonder- 
ing silence. 

After  a  sitting  of  four  hours,  Mr.  Seward,  to  whom  the  right 
belonged,  brought  the  entertainment  to  an  end  by  proposing  to 
his  august  entertainers :  "  Perpetual  peace,  prosperity,  and  welfare 
to  China." 

The  ministers  deliberated,  consulted,  and  then  asked  leave  to 
amend  by  adding  the  words,  "  and  the  United  States." 

Mr.  Seward  accepted  the  amendment  with  a  further  amend- 
ment, which  brought  the  sentiment  into  this  form,  satisfactory  to 
all  the  party : 

"Pei-petual  peace,  prosperity  and  welfare  to  China  and  the 
United  States,  the  oldest  and  the  youngest  of  empires. 

The  visitors  rose,  and,  after  the  most  respectful  and  cordial  bow- 
ing and  hand-shaking,  were  dismissed.  The  procession  reached  the 
legation  at  a  very  late  hour.  We  have  not  heard  whether  it  stood 
any  more  firmly  on  the  order  of  its  coming  than  it  did  on  the 
"  order  of  its  going,"  as  the  gentlemen  had  no  time  to  report  be- 
fore sitting  down  to  Mr.  Low's  dinner,  the  great  diplomatic  enter- 
tainment of  the  season. 

November  Wi. — Three  months  to-day  from  Auburn.  ISTot  a 
word  yet  from  home.  Mr.  Seward  has  sent  a  telegram  by  courier 
one  hundred  and  eighty  miles  to  Kiakhta,  on  the  Russian  frontier. 


\ 


A  LADIES'   DAY. 


147 


there  to  be  put  on  the  Russian  wires.  How  much  more  have  we 
seen  and  learned,  in  these  three  months  of  foreign  travel,  than  we 
could  have  seen  and  learned  within  the  same  period  of  travel  at 
home  !  A  messenger  has  come  to  the  legation  with  compliments 
to  Mr.  Sewdrd,  and  a  polite  inquiry  whether  his  reception  yester- 
day was  agreeable  to  him.  They  desu-ed  him  to  know  that  they 
never  unbent  themselves  so  much  to  a  stranger  as  they  did  to  hhn 
on  that  occasion. 

This  has  been  especially  a  ladies'  day.    Yang-Fang,  pawnbroker 


by  profession,  mandarin  by  rank,  one  of  the  three  richest  men  in 
Peking,  was  educated  at  Shanghai,  where  he  had  some  opportuni- 
ties of  seeing  the  Western  mode  of  life.  He  is  desirous  of  culti- 
vating the  acquaintance  of  foreigners  here  so  far  as  he  can  do  so 
without  exciting  Chinese  suspicion  of  his  loyalty.  He  tendered  an 
invitation  to  the  three  ladies  to  visit  his  family.  The  invitation 
was  communicated  confidentially,  and  with  the  condition  that  they 
should  be  attended  by  only  two  gentlemen,  neither  of  whom  should 
be  an  official  person.     The  ladies  went  at  one  o'clock  to-day,  in 


148 


JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 


closely-covered  cliairs,  through  familiar  streets,  until  they  turned 
into  a  narrow  and  uninviting  one.  There  they  stopped  at  the  gate 
of  an  outside  wall,  one  of  many  gates  of  the  same  kind.  Through 
this  gate  they  were  ushered  into  a  paved  court.  Ascending  three 
or  four  steps,  they  entered  a  second  gate.  The  mandarin  received 
them  there  with  his  wife  and  five  handmaidens  who  were  waiting, 
and  led  them  through  a  corridor.  This  ceremony  over,  the  wife  led 
the  party  to  her  boudoir.  This  room  is  furnished  with  a  curious 
combination  of  European  and  Chinese  styles.     A  Brussels  carpet, 


WIFE   OF   TANG-FANG.      (fKOM   A   PHOTOGEAPH    BY   HIMSELF.) 


half  a  dozen  mirrors  of  different  sizes,  with  gilt  frames,  pictures  of 
the  Tosemite  valley,  a  French  clock,  a  barometer,  a  small  Ameri- 
can sewing-machine  with  a  crank,  two  chairs  covered  with  red 
cloth,  Chinese  divans,  a  French  bedstead  with  curtains,  French 
knick-knacks,  but  no  Chinese  ones,  rows  of  porcelain  vases,  and 
pots  filled  with  chrysanthemums,  an  aquarium  with  gold-fish,  a 
black  cat,  six  finely-bred  spaniels,  and  a  monkey,  made  the  comple- 
ment of  this  singular  apartment.  The  visitors,  taking  seats  on  the 
European  sofas,  and  the  Chinese  ladies  on  the  divans,  exchanged 
compliments  as  well  as  they  could,  the  American  ladies  trying  to 


A   CHINESE   LADY. 


149 


recall  the  instructions  they  had  received  from  Chi-Tajen  at  Auburn. 
Next  the  Chinese  ladies  took  the  watches,  gold  chains,  bracelets, 
and  foreign  rings,  and  inspected  them  carefully.  At  the  same  time 
they  put  into  the  hands  of  their  visitors  their  own  ornaments, 
pearls,  emeralds,  sapphires,  rubies,  and  amethysts.  After  this  the 
ladies  of  the  house  examined  the  American  ladies'  dresses,  hats, 
and  gloves,  marking  well  the  fashion  and  material,  and  in  a  gentle 
and  unaffected  way  offered  to  inspection  their  own  richer  and  more 
elegant  costumes  of  silk  and  embroidery.  The  wife  is  a  delicate- 
looking  woman  of  forty.  She  wore  a  lavender-colored,  embroid- 
ered crepe  petticoat,  over  this  a  double  tunic  of  two  pretty  shades 
of  blue  silk,  trimmed  with  a  variegated  chintz  border,  scarlet  satin 
embroidered  under-sleeves,  so  long  as  nearly  to  conceal  the  slender 
hands — the  nails,  as  long  as  the  fingers,  polished  and  stained  to  re- 
semble tortoise-shell,  each  nail  having  for  its  protection  a  wrought 
gold  case.  Her  coarse,  black  Mongolian  hair,  carefully  dressed 
and  fastened  with  gold  pins,  was  partly  covered  with  a  black-satin 


LONG  XAIL8. 


cap,  tied  at  the  back.  This  cap,  not  unlike  in  shape  to  the  "  Maiy 
Stuart,"  was  entirely  seeded  with  pearls,  rubies,  emeralds,  and 
sapphires,  many  of  them,  especially  the  pearls,  large,  and  of  rare 
value.  Her  feet,  of  which  only  occasional  glimpses  could  be  had, 
were  not  more  than  three  inches  long,  and  were  tightly  encased 
in  scarlet-satin  shoes ;  her  face  and  neck,  literally  plastered  with 
pearl-white,  in  shocking  contrast  with  eyelids  and  cheeks  painted 
pink,  and  lips  red ;   her  manners  and  speech  are  unmistakably 


150  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

refined  ;  slie  is  reputed  intellectual,  and  fond  of  books.  The  five 
handmaidens  were  dressed  in  a  manner  which,  though  not  inele- 
gant, showed  the  inferiority  of  their  position — one  of  them  very 
handsome,  dressed  in  scarlet  satin,  but  none  of  the  five  wore  jewels, 
or  had  small  feet.  The  wife  has  no  children  ;  two  of  the  waiting- 
women  have.  While,  by  the  custom  of  China,  these  chikben  are 
accredited  to  the  wife  as  her  own,  and  deemed  legitimate,  their 
mothers  rather  lose  than  acquire  respect  by  the  parentage.  The 
mutual  inspection  of  di'esses  in  the  boudoir  having  ended,  the  visit- 
ors were  next  conducted  to  what  they  supposed  to  be  the  mandarin's 
apartment,  the  great  room  of  the  house.  Here  they  found  a  sofa, 
a  covered  table,  and  two  chairs,  all  Euroj^ean,  a  broad  but  very  low 
carved  Chinese  bedstead,  with  heavy  blue-silk  curtains,  and  eases 
of  chemical,  photograjDhic,  electric,  and  other  scientific  apparatus 
of  European  manufacture.  Tea  was  served  in  French  china  cups, 
first  the  English  breakfast-tea,  afterward  the  real  Chinese  beverage, 
which  has  the  exquisite  aroma  of  neroli ;  with  it  nice  cakes  of  end- 
less variety  and  shapes,  made  of  flour,  sugar,  and  oil.  The  wife 
and  one  of  the  women  sat  at  the  table  with  the  guests,  while  the 
others  busied  themselves  in  sending  in  the  dift'erent  courses  of  the 
entertainment,  which  were  served  by  young  girls.  The  Chinese 
ladies,  with  their  own  hands,  favored  their  guests  with  cigarettes 
made  of  Turkish  tobacco,  while  they  themselves  used  long,  massive, 
silver  pipes.  The  smoke  was  inhaled  through  water,  and  invariably 
blown  out  of  the  nose.  Being  well  provided  with  interpreters,  the 
visitors  tried  to  induce  conversation.  The  Chinese  ladies  answered 
nothing,  but  laughed  at  every  thing  the  guests  said.  They  then 
endeavored  to  accommodate  themselves  to  their  entertainers,  and 
spoke  to  them  as  to  children,  but  with  little  more  success.  The 
mandarin  improved  the  opportunity  to  express  his  admiration  for 
European  customs.  He  thanked  the  ladies  for  the  honor  of  their 
visit,  and  then  showed  them  all  the  other  apartments  of  the  house. 
These  have  only  stone  floors,  and  the  rooms  are  without  furniture. 
He  even  conducted  them  to  his  opium-smoking  room  for  g-uests, 
with  its  carefully  prepared  kang  and  pillows  for  reclining  upon 
when  the  delicious  intoxication  comes  on.     The  ladies,  of  course. 


A   CHINESE   INTEEIOR. 


151 


did  not  indulge.  The  mandarin  informed  them  that  he  does  not 
practise  it,  and  on  this  occasion  the  use  of  the  room  was  lost.  The 
mandarin,  being  a  proficient  in  photography,  displays  pictures  of 


tang-fang's  SMOKING-EOOM. 


his  wife  and  handmaidens  throughout  the  house.  In  one  room 
there  is  a  disorderly  collection  of  Chinese  books. 

In  going  through  the  maze  of  apartments,  the  ladies,  hearing  the 
loud  chirping  of  a  cricket,  stopped.  Thereupon  one  of  the  women 
brought  out  a  white-silk  bag  from  her  pocket,  and  took  from  it  a 
small,  exquisitely-carved  bamboo-box,  and,  opening  it,  showed  us  her 
pet  cricket,  which  closely  resembles  the  American  grasshopper.  The 
fighting  of  crickets  is  a  favorite  amusement  of  the  Chinese  ladies. 

A  rather  rough  cast-iron  English  pump,  standing  against  the 
wall,  attracted  the  attention  of  the  visitors,  and  they  inquired  its 
use.  The  mandarin  said,  "  It  is  set  up  to  extinguish  accidental  fire, 
and  I  put  the  women  under  it  when  they  quarrel."  The  women 
evidently  looked  upon  it  with  disgust. 

The  house  consists  of  no  less  than  twenty  distinct  buildings, 

13 


K* 


152 


JAPAN,    CHINA,  AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 


with  red-and-yellow  verandas,  all  connected  by  two  very  irregular 
corridors,  one  above  the  other,  which  turn  and  twist  up  and  down 
through  crooked  little  staircases,  under  arches,  around  square  pil- 
lars, in  and  out  of  all  sorts  of  dark  holes  and  corners.  There  are 
two  narrow  areas,  which  pretend  to  be  gardens,  with  a  grotesque 
combination  of  shrubbery  and  rock-work. 

Having  finished  the  exploration  of  this  quaint,  inconvenient, 
and  dingy  mansion,  the  visitors  took  their  leave,  and  reached  the 
legation  at  six  in  the  evening. 


CmiTESK  GATEWAY. 


CHAPTEE  yni. 

RESIDENCE  IN  PEKING  {Continued). 

The  Decay  of  China.— The  Temple  of  Heaven.— The  Temple  of  the  Earth.— The  Tem- 
ple of  Buddha. — The  Chinese  Bonzes. — The  Temple  of  Confucius. — The  Religion 
of  China. — A  Pleasant  Reunion. — The  Birds  of  Peking. — An  Official  Dilemma.— 
Interview  with  Wan-Siang. — Influence  of  Burlingame. 

November  10th. — We  are  inclined  to  think  that,  while  every 
other  nation  in  the  world  is  advancing  toward  a  higher  plane  of 
civilization,  China  is  not  merely  stationary,  but  is  actually  going 
backward  and  downward.  Is  this  decline  of  China  a  result  of  the 
imperfect  development  of  religious  truth  ?  The  Chinese  remain 
now  as  they  were  five  thousand  years  ago,  materialists.  They 
worship  the  heavens,  they  worship  the  earth,  the  sun,  and  the 
moon,  the  planets,  and  the  ocean,  besides  a  multitude  of  other 
natural  objects  and  forces.  They  worship,  more  than  any  other 
creature,  their  ancestors,  who  are  created  beings  even  if  they  have 
an  existence  after  death.  Even  the  philosophy  and  morals  of  Con- 
fucius have  left  the  Chinese  sentiment  of  his  teachings  not  less 
material  than  before.  The  Chinese  have  expressed  this  materialism 
in  erecting  gi'eat  temples — the  Temple  of  Heaven,  the  Temple  of 
the  Earth,  and  the  Temple  of  the  Moon.  To  the  material  heaven 
they  ascribe  all  power,  and  fi-om  it  they  claim  that  the  emperor,  as 
vicegerent,  derives  all  authority.  As  Heaven  made  not  only  China, 
but  the  whole  world,  so  the  emperor  as  vicegerent  not  only  governs 
the  empire,  but  is  rightful  ruler  of  the  whole  earth.     The  Temple 


154  JAPAN,   CHINA,  AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

of  Heaven,  in  Peking,  is  therefore,  preeminently,  tlie  imperial  one  ; 
or,  if  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  sense  of  nationality  in  China,  the 
national  one — more  national  than  Westminster  Abbey  or  St.  Paul's 
is  a  national  church  of  England,  or  Notre-Dame  a  national  church 
of  France,  or  St.  Peter's  of  Italy.  The  Temple  of  Heaven  is  to 
China  what  Solomon's  Temple  was  to  the  people  ol  Judea.  It 
stands  in  an  enclosed  area  of  six  hundred  acres.  Its  lofty  porcelain 
dome,  typical  of  heaven,  has  the  azure  tint  of  the  sky.  Its  cir- 
cular altar  consists  of  three  stages  or  stories,  the  lower  one  hundred 
and  twenty  feet,  the  second  ninety  feet,  and  the  third  sixty  feet  in 
diameter.  In  this  Temple  of  Heaven  the  emperor  is  crowned,  and 
by  that  ceremony  assumes,  as  vicegerent  of  Heaven,  the  govern- 
ment of  the  whole  earth.  He  is  dressed  in  blue,  imitating  the 
drapery  of  the  skies,  and  faces  the  south,  because  China  chiefly  lies 
south  of  Peking,  and  the  rest  of  the  world  is  supposed  to  be  lying 
in  dependence  beyond  it.  Here  he  makes  annual  sacrifices  to 
Heaven,  invoking  its  protection  of  the  empire  in  war,  and  its  bless- 
ings in  peace.  Dressed  in  yellow,  the  color  of  the  earth,  he  oft'ers 
similar  though  less  frequent  sacrifices  at  the  Temple  of  the  Earth. 
Dressed  in  red  robes,  he  makes  similar  homage  in  the  Temj^le  of 
the  Sun,  and  in  pale  white  in  the  Temple  of  the  Moon. 

A  high,  embanked  road,  once  grandly  paved,  leads  from  the 
imperial  palace,  in  the  "  Forbidden  City,"  to  the  Temple  of  Heaven, 
When  the  emperor  visits  this  temple,  he  is  seated  in  a  yellow-and- 
blue  car,  which  is  drawn  over  that  road  by  six  white  elephants. 
The  temple  is  held  as  sacred  by  the  Chinese  as  the  Caaba  at  Mecca 
by  the  Mohammedans.  Mr.  Seward  was  desirous  to  visit  it.  All 
the  foreign  ministers  assured  him  that  the  popular  prejudice  against 
profaning  the  temple,  even  by  the  intrusion  of  the  Chinese  them- 
selves, is  so  great  that  no  ministry  could  dare  open  it  to  a  foreigner. 
]^ot  long  ago,  however,  there  was  a  place  broken  in  the  outer  wall, 
over  which  some  adventurous  travellers  have  entered.  We  set  out 
to  explore,  thinking  it  possible  we  might  eflFect  an  entrance  through 
that  breach.  On  the  way  we  took  notice  that  the  present  regency 
has  sold  all  the  imperial  elephants,  and  that  the  stables  are  falling 
into  decay.     We  found  the  imperial  avenue  in  ruins,  so  that  no 


THE   TEMPLE   OF  AGRICULTUEE. 


155 


elephant-car  or  other  vehicle  could  be  driven  over  it.  We  made 
our  way  on  foot  and  in  chairs.  Arriving  opposite  the  temple  area, 
we  discovered  that,  although  the  breach  in  the  wall  had  been  closed, 
a  gate  at  the  front  was  open,  a  janitor  standing  by  it.  This  seem- 
in  o-  a  propitious  sign,  we  left  the  avenue,  and  directed  our  steps 
thither.  The  janitor,  seeing  us  approach,  closed  the  gate,  and  re- 
tired, certainly  out  of  sight,  but  we  thought  not  out  of  hearing. 
We  had  interpreters  ready  of  speech  and  skilful  to  negotiate,  but 
no  inducement  that  we  offered,  either  moral  or  pecuniary,  could 
avail  to  bring  back  the  lost  custodian.  This  was  only  one  more 
renewal  of  the  experience  which  other  members  of  the  party  had 


TRMPLE   OF  HEAVEN. 


for  several  days.  More  disappointed  than  chagrined,  we  crossed 
the  avenue,  to  a  gate  opposite  the  Temple  of  Heaven,  which  opens 
upon  the  same  area  with  the  Temple  of  Agriculture.     A  long 


15G  JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

argument  ensued  between  our  interpreter,  Dr.  Williams  and  the 
custodian.  It  ended  by  bis  taking  lialf  a  dollar  in  Chinese  "  cash." 
On  inquiry,  however,  we  found  that  the  difficulty  was  not  one  that 
involved  the  privilege  of  entering  the  temple,  but  only  a  question 
©f  prepayment  of  the  fee. 

The  enclosure  of  the  Temple  of  Agriculture  contains  four  hun- 
dred acres.  Custom  requires  that  the  emperor  shall  come  once  a 
year  to  this  temple,  with  the  same  magnificent  demonstration  as  on 
the  occasion  of  his  visits  to  the  Temple  of  Heaven,  and,  as  vice- 
gerent of  Heaven,  shall  break  the  earth  with  a  plough,  sow  it  with 
seed,  and  implore  propitious  rain  and  sunshine,  and  plentiful  harvest. 
These  functions  being  celestial,  the  right  to  perform  them  cannot 
be  delegated,  and  so  they  are  for  the  present  suspended  during  the 
minority  of  the  emperor.  The  present  emperor  is  yet  only  thirteen 
years  of  age.  Several  years  having  elapsed  since  the  death  of  the 
last  monarch,  the  temple  and  its  appurtenances  exhibit  neglect  and 
ruin,  such  as  are  not  likely  to  occur  on  the  show-grounds  of  our 
agricultural  fairs. 

A  large  portion  of  the  grounds  is  covered  with  cypress-groves, 
a  growth  of  more  than  five  hundred  years.  The  grounds  and  even 
the  roads  are  overrun  with  coarse,  rank  grass  and  weeds.  The  wild- 
thorn  made  fearful  havoc  with  our  clothes,  and  we  required  to  be 
continually  on  our  guard  against  nettles.  In  an  open  square  of 
half  an  acre  is  a  circular  platform  of  stone,  ivith  a  marble  balus- 
trade and  a  staircase,  Avhich  is  guarded  by  the  figure  of  a  dragon. 
On  ceremonial  occasions,  a  throne  is  placed  in  the  centre  of  this 
platform  under  a  gorgeous  blue  canopy.  Here  the  emperor  alights 
from  his  palanquin,  and  takes  his  seat  in  solitary  pomp.  Directly 
opposite,  at  a  distance  of  thirty  feet,  is  a  similar  platform  which  is 
occupied  by  the  imperial  family.  Proclamation  being  made,  the 
emperor  leaves  the  throne,  and  makes  a  solemn  progress,  followed 
by  his  family  and  ministers,  to  a  temple  some  two  hundred  feet 
distant,  which  may  be  eighty  feet  square  and  fifty  feet  high ;  against 
the  inner  wall  of  this  temple  a  dais  is  raised  twenty  feet,  and  upon 
it  is  a  throne,  the  same  which  the  late  emperor  occupied  at  the  last 
celebration.     Over  the  throne,  in  large  characters,  is  this  legend : 


THE   EMPEROR   PLOUGHING. 


15  T 


"  We  praise  the  God  who  taught  men  to  sow,  and  who  gives  them 
the  harvest." 

Altars  with  vases  surround  the  throne.  "When  the  emperor  has 
been  seated  for  a  time,  he  rises,  and,  standing  erect,  hfts  his  hands 
in  adoration-,  and  amid  the  clouds  of  incense  involves  the  blessings 
needful  for  his  people.  This  part  of  the  ceremony  concluded,  the 
emperor  then  walks  to  a  distant  enclosure  of  perhaps  eight  acres. 
Here,  upon  another  throne,  he  is  attended  by  the  imperial  family 
and  the  whole  court.  'New  proclamation  being  made,  the  emperor 
advances  into  the  fieldj  and  with  his  own  hand  on  the  plough  drives 
it  until  one  acre  of  soil  is  upturned.  This  done,  he  scatters  the 
seed.  Princes  of  the  imperial  family  and  distinguished  members 
of  the  court  follow,  and  in  like  manner  plough  and  sow  the  remain- 
der of  the  field.  After  this,  the  emperor,  with  his  family,  court, 
and  ministers,  repairs  to  a  platform  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  field, 


^'^^'^^^  Avf  ic '' 


'  i" 


mtfd^A 


TABLET   HALL. 


158  JAPAiT,    CHINA,   AITD   COCHIN   CHINA. 

on  which  is  erected  a  large  altar.  Here,  in  the  presence  of  all,  he 
makes  a  burnt-oftering  of  oxen,  sheep,  goats,  and  other  animals  to 
the  God  of  Agriculture. 

Having  surveyed  these  more  prominent  places  in  the  area 
of  the  Temple  of  Agriculture,  we  next  visited  a  great  central 
edifice,  on  the  walls  of  which  are  tablets  dedicated  to  the  God 
ot  the  Winds,  the  God  of  Thunder,  the  God  of  the  Green 
Grass,  and  the  God  of  the  Green  Stalks  of  Grain.  We  were  after- 
ward conducted  to  a  sunken  place,  paved  and  walled  with  stone, 
in  which  place  the  sacrificial  animals  are  kept.  We  saw  here  the 
arched  passage  through  which  they  are  driven,  the  yard  in  which 
they  are  butchered,  the  immense  platform  on  which  they  are  pre- 
pared for  the  altar,  the  huge  furnaces  and  kettles  in  which  the 
offerings  are  burned,  and  finally  the  oven,  as  large  as  a  city  bakery, 
in  which,  after  the  sacrifice  is  completed,  all  the  refuse  of  the  ani- 
mals, and  all  the  garments  and  vestments  of  the  priests  and  attend- 
ants engaged  in  the  sacrifice,  are  reduced  to  ashes. 

On  our  way  out  of  the  temple,  we  stopped  before  a  curious  ivy- 
canopied  oratory,  within  which  stand  the  shrines  of  three  gods,  one 
a  dwarf,  the  others  larger,  the  three  difli'ering  in  complexion  as  in 
stature.  The  right  figure,  the  God  of  the  Sea,  bears  a  trident,  and 
is  copper-colored.  The  left  figure  is  the  God  of  Rain,  and  is  pure 
white.  The  central  figm-e  is  the  God  of  Benevolence,  and  is  Afri- 
can black.  The  Chinese  divinities  are  always  attended  by  guar- 
dians. This  singular  group  rejoices  in  the  protection  of  a  huge, 
fierce,  wooden  soldier,  armed  with  a  veritable  musket,  lock,  stock, 
and  barrel,  complete. 

Three  thousand  three  hundred  and  sixty  years  ago,  the  Al- 
mighty spake  directly  to  a  portion  of  the  human  race  then  residing 
on  the  western  shore  of  Asia,  "  these  words,  saying,  I  am  the 
Lord  thy  God.  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me.  Thou 
shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  graven  image  or  any  likeness  of  any 
thing  that  is  in  heaven  above,  or  that  is  in  the  earth  beneath,  or 
that  is  in  the  water  under  the  earth.  Thou  shalt  not  bow  thyself 
down  to  them,  nor  serve  them ;  for  I  the  Lord  thy  God  am  a 
jealous  God." 


THE  TEMPLE   OF  BUDDHA.  159 

The  nations  which  have  established  themselves  between  the 
Mediterranean  shore,  on  which  these  words  were  spoken,  and  the 
eastern  side  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  have  accepted  and  obeyed  these 
awful  commands,  and  have  built  a  common  system  of  civilization 
upon  them.  But  the  dwellers  here  on  the  eastern  coast  of  China 
have  not  accepted  either  the  idea  that  God  is  the  Creator  and 
Supi-eme  Director  of  the  Universe,  or  that  he  is  One  God,  or  that 
he  is  a  jealous  God. 

It  is  not  to  be  understood,  however,  that  the  national  mind  of 
China  has  made  no  struggles  to  lift  itself  above  the  dead  level  of 
materialism.  We  proceeded  from  the  Temple  of  Agriculture  to 
visit  one  which  is  a  monument  of  such  a  struggle.  This  is  the 
Temple  of  Buddha.  Tlie  founder  of  the  Buddhist  faith  did  in- 
deed reach  the  sublime  tniths  expounded  by  Moses,  that  God 
is  spiritual.  One,  and  jealous.  But  he  could  not  hold  fast  to 
that  exalted  truth  pure  and  simple.  That  faith,  therefore,  while 
it  accepts  Buddha  as  the  Supreme  Creator  of  the  Universe, 
teaches  at  the  same  time  that,  by  various  processes,  occupying 
long  spaces  of  time,  he  becomes  and  remains  incarnate  on  the 
earth.  This  impersonation,  bearing  the  name  of  the  Grand  Lama, 
resides  in  Thibet,  veiled  from  all  mortal  eyes  but  a  purified  and 
sacred  priesthood,  which  priesthood  has  its  societies  and  orders 
throughout  China  and  all  the  East.  It  is  a  subject  of  curious  re- 
flection that,  as,  in  Europe  and  America,  the  nations  imiformly 
derive  their  revelations  and  systems  of  faith  from  the  East,  so,  on 
the  eastern  shores  and  islands  of  Asia,  they  with  equal  confidence 
claim  to  have  received  their  religious  revelations  from  the  West. 

The  Buddhists  have  two  great  temples  at  Peking — one  in  the 
Tartar  city,  the  other  in  the  Chinese.  It  was  the  former  which  we 
visited.  It  consists  of  several  immense  edifices,  which  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  were  the  residence  of  an  emperor,  who  becoming  an 
adherent  to  that  religion  surrendered  his  palace  to  the  community 
of  Buddhist  bonzes,  and  dedicated  it  to  that  form  of  worship.  The 
principal  structure,  built  of  brick  and  stone,  is  capable  of  holding 
three  thousand  persons ;  the  roof  is  supported  with  columns  of  cedar 
brought  from  Birmah,  eighty  feet  high.     A  gigantic  wooden  statue 


IGO  JAPAN^,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

of  Buddha  towers  from  the  floor  to  the  roof.  Its  carved  drapery, 
while  it  leaves  the  form  distinct,  conceals  the  entire  person  except 
the  huge,  jet-black  face,  fingers  and  toes.  According  to  the  tradi- 
tion of  the  sect,  the  living  Buddha  in  Thibet  had,  at  the  time  of  his 
incarnation,  eighteen  most  saintly  apostles  who  endured  all  manner 
of  trials  and  worked  all  manner  of  miracles.  These  eighteen 
apostles,  carved  in  wood,  sit  cross-legged  in  a  circle  around  the 
great  idol,  gazing  at  the  soles  of  their  feet,  supposed  to  be  an  atti- 
tude of  divine  contemplation.  Yases  of  incense  stand  before  the 
god  and  each  of  the  saints.  The  images  are  so  far  from  having  any 
spiritual  expression,  that  the  faces  of  all,  including  that  of  Buddha, 
are  simply  inane.  All  around  the  temple  are  shrines,  each  of 
which  supports  a  diminutive  female  figure  carved  in  bronze.  Each 
of  these  figures  represents  the  virgin  mother  of  the  incarnate 
Buddha.  It  is  not  without  probability  that  theologians  suppose 
that  this  idea,  now  universally  held  by  the  Buddhists,  analogous  to 
that  of  the  Madonna,  is  a  modern  innovation  derived  from  some 
early  inculcations  of  the  Christian  Church.  Certainly  the  similarity 
is  remarkable.  One  of  our  fellow-travellers  at  Shanghai  bought  a 
bronze  image  of  the  mother  of  Buddh:i,  with  an  infant  in  its  arms, 
which,  on  examination,  we  concluded  to  be  an  antique  figure  of 
the  Yirgin  Mary.  These  statuettes  to-day  are  carefully  draped  in 
bright  yellow  silk,  the  thermometer  having  fallen  last  night  to  32°. 
Admiral  Eodgers  will  verify  another  curious  ornament  which 
arrested  our  attention  in  this  temple.  It  is  a  picture  which  hangs 
against  the  inner  wall,  and  presents  a  view  of  the  Last  Judgment 
— a  celestial  figure  pronouncing  sentence,  the  doomed  descending 
into  a  fiery  abyss,  the  blessed  rising  into  regions  of  felicity.  It  is 
so  like  the  conceptions  of  the  middle  ages,  that  the  picture  might 
have  been  a  study  for  Michael  Angelo  in  the  Sistine  Chapel. 
There  are  a  thousand  bonzes  in  the  monastery  attached  to  this 
temple.  They  surrounded  us  on  our  way  through  it.  Though 
they  wear  a  yellow  uniform,  they  are  ragged  and  unclean,  and 
appear  in  the  last  stage  of  mendicity.  We  shrank  from  too  close  a 
contact  with  them.  They  are  ignorant,  idle,  and  lazy.  They  seem 
to  have  no  efiicient  ecclesiastical  superior,  and  to  be  amenable  to 


THE   TEMPLE   OF   CONFUCmS. 


161 


no  public  opinion.  In  these  respects  they  contrast  very  disadvan- 
tageously  with  the  cleanly,  neat,  and  courteous  bonzes  whom  we 
saw  in  Japan.  Although  a  daily  ritual  service  is  read  in  the  temple, 
it  everywhere  exhibits  the  saddest  evidences  of  neglect  and  dilapi- 
dation. 

After  so  broad  a  study  of  the  practices  of  idolatry,  we  were  now 
prepared  for  the  more  pleasing  ones  of  rationalistic  institutions. 
Escaping  from  the  mendicant  throng,  who  followed  us  to  the  outer 


THE   TEMPLE   OP   CONFTTCniS. 


gate  of  the  Buddhist  monastery,  we  proceeded  to  the  Temple  of 
Confucius.  It  is  about  as  spacious  as  the  Senate-hall  in  Washing- 
ton. After  having  been  so  long  bedazzled  and  bewildered  by  the 
Buddhist  and  other  pagan  temples  in  China,  it  was  not  without 
pleasant  surprise  that  we  found  the  great  hall,  which  we  now  en- 
tered, unique  in  design  and  simple  in  decoration.     There  is  here 


162  JAPAN",    CHINA,   AND    COCHIN   CHINA. 

neither  idol  nor  image,  the  likeness  of  any  thing  in  the  heaven 
above,  or  the  earth  beneath,  or  in  the  waters  under  the  earth,  noth- 
ing to  bow  down  to  or  worship.  There  is  neither  altar,  nor  vase, 
nor  candelabra.  Instead  of  all  these,  there  is,  in  a  large  niche  in 
the  rear  wall,  a  plain  pedestal,  which  bears  a  modest  red  tablet,  on 
which  is  engraved,  in  letters  of  gold,  the  name  "  Confucius."  The 
architrave  of  the  niche  bears  seven  legends,  the  homages  of  the  sev- 
eral emperors,  of  the  present  dynasty,  who  have  reigned  since  the 
temple  was  built.     These  legends  are  as  follows  : 

By  KiA-KiKG. 
"  The  holy  one  combined  the  great  perfections." 

By  Kajtg-Hi. 
"  The  leader  and  patron  of  all  nations." 

Bv  Yfng-Ching. 
"  Mankind  has  seen  none  like  him." 

By  KiEN-LiNG. 
"  The  equal  of  Heaven  and  Earth." 

By  Tai-Kwang. 
"  The  holy  one  who  assists  in  harmonizing  the  seasons." 

By  HiEN-FuNG. 

"  His  virtue  is  all  the  virtue  which  can  exist  between  the  cano- 
py of  Heaven  above  and  the  Earth  below." 

FuNG-Cni,  the  present  boy-emperor,  contributes  this  : 
"  His  holiness  is  divine ;  Heaven  cannot  circumscribe  it." 

Around  the  sides  of  the  room  are  arranged  tablets  dedicated  to 
eminent  disciples  of  Confucius.  Near  the  temple  is  the  great 
Palace  Hall,  where  the  annual  competitive  examination  of  pupils, 
from  all  parts  of  the  empire,  is  held.  The  construction  of  the  Ex- 
amination Chamber  is  at  once  convenient  and  elegant.     We  are 


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THE   ACADEMY. 


163 


not  sure  that  it  would  be  thought  exceptional  for  Lyceum  or  Ex- 
amination Hall  at  Yale  or  Harvard.  It  has  a  raised  platform,  with 
a  plain  throne,  for  the  emperor,  who  annually  attends  here  for 
the  purpose  of  conferring  the  degrees,  and  has  chairs  for  the  exam- 
iners, with  benches,  raised  in  semicircular  rows,  for  the  candidates. 
The  studies  are  confined  to  the  writings  of  Confucius,  which  are 
regarded  as  the  classics  of  China,  and  every  word  of  which  is  labo- 


II,  iinMinriMiT 


,il,lll"lll  Jill. ill, 1.1 


IMAGE   OF   CONFtTCItlS. 


riously  committed  to  memory.  A  long,  covered  corridor  connects 
this  hall  with  the  temple  last  described.  This  corridor  has  a  row 
of  massive  granite  columns.  We  could  not  stop  to  count  them. 
The  square  monoliths  are  completely  covered  with  the  writings  of 
Confucius,  the  text  being  the  prescribed  standard  for  all  republica- 
tions within  the  empire.  The  grounds  contain  twelve  thousand 
apartments  for  professors  and  scholars.  The  entire  institution 
bears,  in   government   language,  the  name  of  "academy."     We 


1G4  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND  COCHIN  CHINA. 

were  sorry  to  find  all  parts  of  the  academy  covered  with  dust  and 
sand,  and  exhibiting  evidence  of  much  neglect,,  though  not  dilaj^i- 
dated  like  the  temples. 

Open  any  Chinese  book,  ask  any  Chinese  statesman  or  scholar, 
and  you  will  learn  that  Confucius  is  worshij)ped.  Push  the  inquiry 
further,  and  you  will  learn  that  he  is  worshij)ped  not  as  a  deity, 
but  as  a  person  of  divine  perfection.  The  absence  of  the  custom- 
ary symbols  of  worship  in  the  Temple  of  Confucius  confirms  this 
view.  The  Chinese  ambassadors  at  Washington  refused  to  recognize 
one  of  their  young  countrymen  who  had  been  educated  at  Fairfax 
Theological  Seminary  for  the  Christian  ministr3^  He  pleaded,  as 
an  excuse  for  his  conversion,  the  divinity  of  Christ.  They  replied  : 
"  Why  do  we  want  another  Christ  ?  We  have  a  Christ  of  our  own, 
Confucius."  A  Chinaman,  whom  we  met  here,  when  pressed  by 
one  of  our  missionaries  to  accept  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
gift  of  God  to  man,  replied  :  "  Why  is  not  a  Christ  born  in  China 
as  good  as  a  Christ  born  in  the  United  States  ? " 

This  national  habit  of  comparing  Confucius  with  the  Saviour 
undoubtedly  results  from  the  similarity,  in  many  respects,  between 
the  teachings  of  Confucius  and  the  Christian  morals.  The  Chinese 
reformer  teaches  no  dogmatic  theology,  either  of  materialism  or 
mysticism.  He  tolerates  all  such,  however,  while  his  code  of  mor- 
als and  manners  is  adapted  to  all  classes  and  conditions  of  society, 
and  to  all  forms  of  religious  faith.  The  worshippers  of  heaven  and 
earth,  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  can  accept  the  system  of  Confu- 
cius, because  it  does  not  interfere  with  any  principles  of  their  own. 
The  Buddhists  entertain  no  jealousy  of  it.  It  fails,  however,  to 
regenerate  the  empire ;  it  is  "  of  the  earth,  earthy."  "  As  is  the 
earthy,  such  are  they  also  that  are  earthy,  and  as  is  the  heavenly, 
such  are  they  also  that  are  heavenly."  The  motive  of  duty  to  our 
fellow-men  must  have  its  most  effective  spring  in  the  sense  of  duty 
to  God.  No  human  being  can  have  that  sense,  unless  he  has 
accepted  the  truth  that  God  is  one,  and  that  he  is  a  Spirit  to  be 
worshipped  in  spirit  and  in  truth. 

The  day  closed  with  an  excursion  through  the  imperial  city, 
and  under  the  walls  of  the  "  prohibited  "  city.      The  grounds  at- 


THE   PARADISE   OF  BIRDS,  165 

taclied  to  tlic  imperial  palaces  have  an  exquisite  arrangement  of 
lawn  and  grove,  of  hill  and  lake.  These  grounds  are  cultivated  with 
due  care,  and  gave  us  the  only  scene  we  have  found  in  Peking,  or 
indeed  in  China,  exempt  from  the  ravages  of  decay  and  desolation. 

November  11th. — We  met,  last  evening,  the  diplomatic  society, 
and  all  the  foreigners  residing  in  Peking,  in  a  pleasant  reunion 
at  the  British  legation. 

The  imperial  parks  and  gardens,  the  groves  around  the  temples, 
the  waste  places  made  by  sieges  and  lires,  not  to  speak  of  the  mul- 
titude of  canals,  fit  Peking  to  be  a  paradise  of  birds,  and  the  taste 
of  the  Chinese  people  favors  their  preservation.  We  are  awakened 
every  morning  by  the  cawing  of  the  foraging  army  of  crows  going 
out  on  their  march  to  the  cornfields  outside  the  city.  The  sky 
is  blackened  at  sunset  with  the  regiments  returning  to  bivouac. 
The  crow  is  not  here,  however,  as  among  us,  regarded  with  dislike. 
He  is  taught  solemn  exercises,  cunning  acts,  and  winning  ways. 
Thrushes,  as  large  as  our  robins,  and  sparrows  especially  beautiful, 
abound,  and  game  is  more  plentiful  than  poultry  at  home.  The 
pigeon,  everywhere  a  fovorite  of  man,  is  especially  so  here.  Flocks, 
whirling  through  the  air  at  all  hours  of  the  day,  arrest  notice  by 
shrill  and  varied  notes,  which  they  never  utter  elsewhere.  We 
were  a  long  time  perplexed  as  to  what  particular  species  these  birds 
belonged,  and  in  Avliat  way  they  produced  these  not  unmusical 
sounds.  They  are  reared  in  dovecotes,  and  a  light  reed-whistle  is 
delicately  fastened  on  the  back  of  the  bird,  at  the  root  of  the  tail- 
feathers.  Many  reasons  are  assigned  for  this  invention.  The 
most  common  one  is,  that  it  frightens  the  crows  in  their  depreda- 
tions. Another,  that  they  protect  the  fiocks  against  the  birds  of 
prey.  How^ever  this  may  be,  the  music  produced  on  these  JEolian 
harps  is  sufficient  to  account  for  the  practice,  without  looking  for 
any  economical  reason. 

We  have  frequently  recognized  the  pigeon  in  his  office  of  letter- 
carrier.  He  is  the  only  postman  employed  in  China,  except  the 
swift-footed  Government  courier,  whose  toil  is  so  great  while  his 
reward  is  so  small.     AYliat  a  change  must  come  over  the  empire, 

14 


166  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

wlien  this  postman  gives  place  to  the  raih'oacl,  the  express,  and  the 
electric  telegraph !  We  have  not  seen  the  magpie  domesticated, 
hut  he  keeps  perpetual  ward  in  the  palaces,  castles,  and  gates. 

While  we  have  been  studying  the  birds  of  Peking,  some  mem- 
bers of  our  party  were  making  a  new  advance  upon  the  Temple  of 
Heaven.  "What  they  saw  must  be  recorded,  less  for  the  forbidden 
knowledge  which  was  gained  than  for  the  moral  reflections  which 
it  suggests.  Mr.  Coles,  a  pupil  in  the  American  legation,  conduct- 
ed a  party  of  four,  two  of  whom  were  ladies,  along  the  high,  paved 
road  in  the  direction  of  the  temple.  At  a  distance  from  the  gate 
he  left  them  and  threw  himself  into  a  mean,  closely-covered  mule- 
cart,  in  which  he  made  his  way  unsuspected  along  the  base  of  the 
wall,  until  he  reached  the  central  gate,  from  which  we  had  before 
been  repulsed.  Emerging  from  the  cart,  he  rushed  into  the  open 
gate-way,  and  planted  himself  by  the  side  of  the  stern  janitor,  who 
requested  the  unwelcome  visitor  to  retire,  and  attempted  to  close 
the  gate.  But  the  visitor  stood  firm,  all  the  while  beckoning  to  the 
distant  party  to  come  up.  The  custodian  now  betrayed  a  con- 
sciousness that  he  did  "  perceive  here  a  divided  duty."  In  any  case 
it  was  a  duty  to  save  the  great  altar  from  profanation  by  native  or 
foreigner,  especially  the  latter.  Secondly,  since  the  Tien-Tsin  -mas- 
sacre the  Government  has  strenuously  commanded  that  in  no  case 
shall  oifence  be  given  to  Christians.  The  custodian  made  the  best  he 
could  of  the  dilemma,  and  yielding  to  the  resistance  which  he  could 
not  overcome  without  violence,  he  piteously  implored  from  the  in- 
truder a  douceur,  by  way  of  indemnity  for  the  bastinado  which 
the  Government  was  sure  to  inflict  as  a  punishment  for  infidelity  at 
his  post.  Terms  were  liberally  adjusted,  and  the  party  went  suc- 
cessfully through  the  temple,  penetrating  even  the  holiest  of  its 
holies.  The  janitor  hurried  them  forward,  his  fears  of  the  bas- 
tinado increasing  with  every  minute  of  delay.  His  terror  became 
so  great  that,  when  they  had  completed  the  examination  and 
returned  to  the  gate,  he  demanded  a  larger  sum  for  letting  them 
out  than  he  had  before  received  for  letting  them  in. 

To  what  a  humiliating  condition  has  the  empire  of  Ivublai-Khan 
fallen,  when  its  sovereign  dare  not  suffer  the  foreigner  to  enter  the 


WAN-SIANG'S  LETTER.  167 

great  national  temple,  tlirough  fear  of  domestic  insurrection,  nor  to 
forbid  him  from  entering,  throngh  fear  of  foreign  war  ! 

Wliile  the  visitors  confirm  the  descriptions  of  the  magnificence 
of  the  temple  which  we  have  before  mentioned,  they  assure  ns  also 
that  even  in  the  Temple  of  Heaven,  as  in  all  the  other  edifices  and 
places  we  have  visited,  neglect  and  decay  are  indescribable. 

Wan-Siang  is  president  of  the  Board  of  Kites,  and  principal 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  Acting  in  concert  with  the  regent 
Prince  Kung,  Wan-Siang  was  the  master-spirit  who  led  the  Chinese 
Government  up  to  the  resolution  of  entering  into  diplomatic  rela- 
tions with  the  "Western  powers.  It  was  he  who  solicited  and 
procured  from  Mr.  Seward  at  Washington  a  copy  of  Wheaton's 
"  Law  of  Nations,"  and  caused  it  to  be  translated  and  adopted  by 
the  imperial  Government.  He,  more  than  any  other,  was  efiicient 
in  instituting  the  Burlingame  mission.  As  has  been  before  in- 
timated, when  we  arrived  he  was  under  a  leave  of  absence  from 
ofiicial  duties  for  one  year,  on  the  double  ground  of  his  ill-health 
and  the  duty  of  mourning  for  that  period  the  death  of  his  mother. 
Under  these  circumstances  Mr.  Seward,  the  day  after  his  audience 
with  the  cabinet,  addressed  a  note  to  Wan-Siang,  sympathizing  with 
him  in  his  illness,  and  proposing  to  visit  the  minister  at  his  own 
house.  This  note  brought  an  autograph  letter,  beautifully  written 
on  rose-colored  Chinese  ofiicial  paper,  as  follows : 

"T  have  long  heard  of  your  excellency's  great  fame,  which  for 
many  years  has  been  cherished  by  all  nations,  and  I  myself  have 
exceedingly  respected  you  and  longed  for  a  better  acquaintance. 
Since  you  have  come  to  our  country,  its  high  authorities  will  be 
still  more  desirous  of  seeing  and  conversing  with  you.  But,  as  for 
myself,  an  old  malady  having  returned,  I  have  been  obliged  to  ask 
a  leave  of  absence,  and  it  was  an  occasion  of  regret  and  disappoint- 
ment that  I  was  unable  to  meet  you  on  the  Tth  instant,  when 
you  visited  the  foreign  office.  I  have  had  the  honor  to  receive 
your  note  of  yesterday,  in  which  you  propose  to  yourself  the  great 
trouble  of  coming  to  see  me,  an  honor  which  I  shall  engrave  in  my 
heart,  and  write  on  my  bones.  But  my  dwelling  is  mean  and 
small,  and  its  condition  would,  I  fear,  be  oflensive  to  you,  which 


168  JAPAX,   CHIXA,  AND  COCHIX  CHI^A. 

\vould  be  a  matter  of  deep  regret  to  me.  I  have,  therefore,  set 
apart  the  11th  instant  to  go  and  call  on  you  at  one  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  if  my  health  will  in  anywise  enable  me  to  do  so. 
AYe  can  then  converse  at  length.  I  shall  be  pleased  to  receive  a 
reply,  and  I  avail  myself  of  this  occasion  to  wish  that  happiness 
may  every  day  be  yours." 

The  letter  bore  no  signature,  but  enclosed  within  was  the  writ- 
ten card  of  Wan-Siang. 

At  twelve  another  autograph  card  of  Wan-Siang  was  delivered 
to  Mr.  Seward,  as  an  announcement  of  the  minister's  approach. 
He  arrived  at  the  moment,  in  a  green  sedan-chair,  with  two 
mounted  attendants  and  four  footmen.  He  is  a  dignified  and 
grave  person,  and  he  went  through  the  ceremony  of  introduction 
to  Mr.  Seward  with  ease  and  politeness.  He  wore  a  rich  dress 
of  silks  and  furs,  and  a  mandarin's  hat  with  a  peacock's  feather 
and  a  coral  ball  on  the  top.  Mr.  Seward  and  Mr.  Low  sat  down 
with  Wan-Siang,  Dr.  Williams  acting  as  interpreter.  Wan-Siang 
said : 

"I  have  been  detained  at  my  home  one  whole  year  by  ill- 
health.  I  should  not  have  come  out  from  it  now,  and  perhaps  I 
should  never  have  come  out  from  it  again,  but  for  my  desire 
to  make  your  acquaintance.  I  have  always  known  you  as  a  firm 
.and  constant  friend  of  a  just  and  liberal  policy,  on  the  part  of 
the  Western  nations  toward  China.  I  am  surprised  to  see  you  so 
vigorous  after  so  laborious  a  public  service.  What  may  be  your 
honorable  age  ? " 

Me.  Seward  answered :  "  Sixty-nine." 

Wan-Siang  exclaimed :  "  Sixteen  years  older  than  I,  and  yet  so 
much  stronger  and  more  elastic !  You  are  going  from  your  own 
country  around  the  world,  while  I,  alas !  am  unable  to  keep  about 
my  own  proper  business  at  home." 

Mk.  Seward  said:  "Mr.  Burlingame's  letters  and  conversa- 
tions made  me  well  acquainted  with  your  character  and  your  saga- 
cious and  effective  statesmanship." 

Wan-Siang  :  "  We  deplore  the  death  of  Mr.  Burlingame.  It  is 
a  loss  to  China  that  he  died  before  accomplishing  his  mission. 


INTERVIEW  WITH  WAN-SIANG.  169 

Mr.  Biirlingame  wrote  to  us  from  the  United  States  how  much  the 
embassy  was  mdehted  to  you  for  its  great  success." 

Me.  Sewaed:  "Before  the  treaty  was  signed  at  Washington, 
its  provisions  were  confidentially  submitted  to  the  European 
courts.  They  gave  us  assurances  that  they  would  accept  them,  I 
met  Chi-Tajen  and  Sun-Tajen  at  Shanghai.  They  told  me  that 
the  treaty  had  been  virtually  accepted  by  the  European  states. 
Mr.  Burlingame's  mission  was  therefore  a  success.  He  has  brought 
China  and  the  West  into  relations  of  mutual  friendship  and  accord. 
In  this  view  his  death  was  not  premature.  He  has  raised  an 
honorable  fame  on  a  firm  foundation." 

Wan-Siaxg  :  "  Does  any  subject  occur  to  you  which  is  of  com- 
mon interest  to  China  and  the  United  States,  on  which  you  would 
be  free  to  speak  ? " 

Me.  Sewaed  :  "  I  think  China  ought  to  reciprocate  with  the 
Western  nations  by  sending  to  them  permanent  resident  ministers 
and  consuls,  who  should  be  of  equal  rank  with  those  which  the  for- 
eign nations  accredit  here.  They  ought,  moreover,  in  all  cases,  to 
be  not  foreigners,  but  native  Chinese." 

Want-Sia^stg  :  "  We  shall  send  such  agents  so  soon  as  they  can 
be  educated  here  in  the  Western  sciences  and  languages,  so  as  to  be 
qualified  for  their  trusts." 

Me.  Sewaed  :  "  Better  that  they  go  unqualified  than  wait  too, 
long.  Chinese  experts  will  learn  Western  sciences,  languages,  laws, 
and  customs,  in  the  United  States  or  in  Europe,  much  faster  than 
they  can  acquire  them  here.  Moreover,  Chinese  immigration  is 
already  largely  flowing  into  the  United  States.  The  rights  and 
interests  of  Chinese  immigrants  are  likely  to  sufter  neglect  there 
for  want  of  Chinese  diplomatic  and  consular  agents,  who,  accord- 
ing to  the  customs  of  nations,  are  expected  to  invoke  the  atten- 
tion and  protection  of  the  Government,  in  cases  of  injustice  or 
oppression.  Again,  there  is  no  accord  nor  friendship  where 
there  is  no  reciprocity.  China  is  now  regarded,  by  all  the  West- 
ern nations,  as  not  merely  unsocial,  but  hostile,  because^  she  neg- 
lects the  exchange  of  international  courtesies  abroad  as  well  as 
at  home." 


170  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

Wajst-Siaxg  :  "  These  are  my  own  opinions.  I  have  ahvays  en- 
deavored to  bring  tliem  into  practice." 

Me.  Sewakd  :  "  There  is  another  point  upon  which  I  would 
like  to  speak  freely,  if  I  should  not  be  thought  speaking  in  an  un- 
friendly way.  I  think  I  know  the  temper  of  the  European  states. 
Chinese  ministers  are  accorded  a  personal  reception  by  the  sover- 
eigns of  those  nations.  The  Chinese  emperor  refuses  a  personal 
reception  to  the  foreign  ministers  here.  Thus,  the  Chinese  minis- 
ter is  admitted  to  a  direct  acquaintance  with  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  with  the  Queen  of  England,  and  with  the  Emperor 
of  Russia.  A  minister  from  either  of  those  countries,  on  arriving 
here,  learns  that  the  Emperor  of  China  is  too  sacred  a  person  to  be 
looked  upon.  This,  to  be  sure,  is  only  a  question  of  ceremony  and 
etiquette ;  but,  my  dear  sir,  questions  of  ceremony  and  etiquette 
between  nations  often  become  the  most  serious  and  dangerous  of 
all  international  complications." 

WajSt-Siang  bowed  courteously,  but  made  no  reply. 

Ml'.  Low,  interposing,  said :  "  The  subject  is  a  delicate  one  just 
now,  but  we  are  sure  that  TVan-Siang  is  the  last  statesman  in  China 
to  overlook  it." 

Mr.  Sewaed  :  "  Are  the  students,  such  as  I  saw  yesterday  at 
the  Temple  of  Confucius,  and  who  are  the  only  allowed  candidates 
for  official  employments  in  China,  instructed  in  modern  Chinese 
sciences,  or  are  they  taught  the  ancient  classics  only?" 

"Wai^-Siang  :  "  Only  the  latter.  I  have  attempted  to  procure 
the  establishment  of  an  imperial  college,  in  which  modern  sciences 
and  languages  shall  be  taught  by  foreign  professors.  For  a  while 
I  thought  that  I  should  succeed.  But  the  eifort  has  failed,  and  has 
brought  me  mider  deep  reproach  and  general  suspicion." 

Me.  Sewaed  :  "  This  ought  not  to  discourage  you.  Every  wise 
minister  at  some  time  falls  under  temporary  reproach  and  unjust 
suspicion.  Public  opinion,  in  every  country,  is  a  capricious  sea. 
Whoever  attempts  to  navigate  it  is  liable  to  be  tossed  about  by 
storms." 

Wan-Siang  :  "  It  is,  as  you  say,  indeed  unavoidable.  A  states- 
man stands  on  a  hill.     He  looks  farther  in  all  directions  than  the 


A  DEPEESSED   STATESMAN".  171 

people,  wlio  are  standing  at  the  base,  can  see.  When  he  points  out 
the  course  they  ought  to  take  for  safety,  they  are  suspicious  that  he 
is  misdirecting  them.  When  they  have  at  last  gained  the  summit 
from  which  he  pointed  the  way,  they  then  correct  their  misjudg- 
ment.  But  this,  although  it  may  be  sufficient  for  them,  comes  too 
late  for  the  statesman." 

Wan-Siang  seemed  to  avoid  contested  questions,  like  a  sick  man 
who  is  warned  against  excitement.  He  turned  the  conversation 
upon  Prince  Kung's  admiration  for  Mr.  Seward,  and  disaj)point- 
ment  in  failing  to  meet  him  at  the  foreign  office,  and  his  purpose 
still  to  do  so  when  recovered  from  his  illness.  Wan-Siang  then 
fell  into  lamentations  over  his  own  prostrate  health,  and  expressed 
himself  despondingly  concerning  the  future  of  China.  After  an 
exchange  of  courtesies  he  withdrew,  leaving  on  Mr.  Seward's  mind 
the  painful  impression  that  Wan-Siang  would  die,  before  many 
years,  of  a  broken  heart. 

On  inquiring  the  cause  of  Wan-Siang's  mental  depression,  Mr. 
Seward  learned  that  it  is  due  to  the  defeat  of  his  plans  for  the  col- 
lege which  he  had  mentioned.  It  is  only  just,  however,  to  say 
that  a  more  hopeful  view  of  that  great  and  beneficent  project  is 
entertained,  not  only  by  intelligent  foreigners  residing  here,  but  by 
Wan-Siang's  associates  in  the  Government. 

If  we  have  exhausted  the  sights  and  wonders  of  Peking  during 
our  stay,  certainly  the  city  seems  unconscious  of  it.  The  wretched 
streets  have  become  a  little  less  muddy,  and  the  general  aspect 
more  cheerful,  than  when  we  came  here  ten  days  ago. 


CHAPTEK   IX. 

VISIT   TO   THE   GREAT  WALL. 

Preparations  for  the  Trip. — Our  Vehicles. — The  Summer  Palace.— Pagodas. — First  Night 
under  a  Chinese  Roof. — A  Chinese  Tavern. — Approach  to  the  Great  Wall. — The 
Mongolians. — The  Cost  of  the  Wall. — Inquisitive  Chinese. — The  Second  Wall. — The 
Ming  Tombs. — A  Misguided  Mule. 

Hyden,  November  12th. — Peking  is  on  the  parallel  of  39°  54'. 
The  point  of  the  Great  "Wall  which  we  propose  to  visit  is  in  a  direct 
north  line  about  forty  miles  distant,  on.  an  elevation  of  two  thou- 
sand feet  above  the  city.  This  altitude  has  a  climatic  effect  of  nearly 
seven  degrees  of  latitude.  The  climate  there  may  therefore  be  un- 
derstood to  be  about  the  same  in  relation  to  Peking  as  the  climate 
of  Lake  Superior  is  to  that  of  New  York.  We  provided  against  in- 
clemency by  a  supply  of  furs  and  braziers.  What  with  our  strange 
catskin  caps,  long  foxskin  coats,  and  high  white  felt  boots,  we 
scarcely  claimed  to  know  each  other.  The  obstacles  to  the  excur- 
sion, have  not  been  over-estimated.  They  were  not,  however,  of  a 
political  nature,  like  those  which  opposed  our  journey  to  Peking. 
They  are  chiefly  material  and  local.  Our  arrangements  were  made 
several  days  in  advance,  with  Chinese  common  carriers,  for  the 
necessary  litters,  carts,  mules,  donkeys,  drivers,  and  attendants.  On 
the  afternoon  of  the  tenth,  we  saw  with  our  own  eyes  a  combined 
force  of  men  and  beasts  enter  the  court  ready  to  be  caparisoned 
and  packed  during  the  night  to  start  on  the  next  day,  just  as  soon 
as  Wan-Siang's  expected  visit  should  be  over.     It  was  not,  how- 


A   CHIKESE   CART. 


173 


ever,  until  eiglit  o'clock  last  niglit  that  it  was  announced  to  us,  not 
only  that  the  necessary  complement  of  litters  had  not  been  ob- 
tained, but  also  that  they  could  not  be  procured  in  the  city  that 
day.  We  acquiesced  with  such  grace  as  we  could,  and  appointed  a 
new  hour  for  departure,  namely,  six  o'clock  this  morning. 

We  determined  to  retire  early,  Mrs.  Low's  ball  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding.  In  vain  was  that  "  net  spread  in  sight  of  these 
birds."  We  rose  at  five  o'clock.  All  the  mules  that  had  been 
gathered  the  day  before  had  been  taken  away  during  the  night  to 
their  customary  stables.  There  was  not  one  animal  in  the  court- 
yard.    At  eight  o'clock  two  mules  were  lacking,  but  they  had  been 


CHINESE   CAET. 


sent  for.  At  nine,  one  of  the  mules  which  remained  was  taken 
sick  and  was  sent  away  to  the  hospital.  At  ten,  it  was  replaced. 
At  half-past  ten,  the  driver  fell  suddenly  ill,  and  was  sent  home 


174 


JAPAI^,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 


unfit  for  duty.  At  noon,  after  we  had  been  sitting  three  hours 
closely  packed  in  our  litters,  the  great  gate  opened,  and  the  long 
procession,  which,  though  a  motley  one,  was  completely  organized, 
moved  out.  The  roads  we  are  to  travel  do  not  allow  the  use  of 
sedan-chairs.  Only  mandarins  are  allowed  the  privilege  of  travel- 
ling in  mule-litters.     Inferior  persons  are  by  the  Board  of  Eites 


THE   LITTEK. 


confined  to  the  use  of  the  heavy,  two-wheeled,  close-covered  mule- 
cart,  indulgently  called  by  Mr.  Pumpelly  "  a  carriage."  The  cara- 
van consists  of  eight  covered  litters  for  the  less  vigorous  members 
of  the  party.  Each  litter  is  borne  by  two  mules  harnessed  between 
the  shafts,  one  before  and  one  behind  the  litter.  Each  litter  has  an 
extra  mule  for  occasional  service.  It  has  also  a  driver  on  foot  and 
a  muleteer  on  a  donkey.  Then  there  are  six  carts,  each  drawn  by 
one  mule,  and  attended  by  a  driver  who  walks.     All  the  animals 


THE   TEMPLE   OF  THE   GEEAT  BELL.  175 

wear  tinkling  bells,  which  give  warning  to  all  camel-drivers  and 
whomsoever  else  it  may  concern,  that  a  wide  berth  is  required  by 
the  ostentatious  Occupants  of  the  litters.  Our  way  out  of  the  city 
was  through  the  Korth  Gate.  It  brought  in  review,  as  we  passed, 
the  wayside  traiSc  and  street  amusements  of  this  singular  people. 
Every  thing  to  eat,  to  drink,  and  to  wear,  is  prepared  and  sold  in 
booths,  and  every  thing  needful  in  daily  life  and  death,  including 
coffins,  is  made  and  mended  there.  These  booths  are  interspersed 
at  short  distances  with  theatres,  show-rooms,  and  gambling-dens. 
You  see  an  hourly  performance  of  Punch  with  a  pigtail,  and  Judy 
with  cramped  feet,  thimblerig,  harlequin,  cards,  dice,  and  magic. 
Occasionally  we  meet  a  lady  "  of  the  better  sort,"  closely  cushioned 
in  a  sedan-chair,  more  frequently  "  other  women,"  with  or  without 
children,  heaped  and  packed  in  horrible  carts.  Only  virtuous  and 
respectable  people  are  allowed  this  indulgence.  These  women  are 
gayly  dressed,  painted  white  and  red,  and  wear  large  chrysanthe- 

^  mums,  or  rosettes,  in  their  hair.  The  very  few  women  whom  we 
pass  in  the  streets  are  accounted  both  vulgar  and  vicious.  The 
booths  and  theatre  were  not  the  only  obstacles  in  our  line  of 
march.  We  jostled  against  long  camel-caravans ;  funeral-proces- 
sions, which,  by  the  aifectation  of  solemnity,  made  a  mockery  of 
death ;  and  wedding-processions,  which,  without  a  pretence  to  re- 
finement or  delicacy,  make  the  marriage  ceremony  a  vulgar  spec- 
tacle. At  Ta-tsoon-tsa,  a  dull  and  cheerless  suburb,  two  miles  be- 
yond the  gate,  we  halted  for  refreshments,  at  the  Buddhist  temple 
of  the  Great  Bell. 

In  China,  temples  and  Buddhist  monasteries  are  freely  opened 
for  the  entertainment  of  travellers.  Two  monks  assisted  our  ser- 
vants in  preparing  lunch.  The  Temple  of  the  Great  Bell  is  humble 
compared  with  those  in  the  city,  but,  although  much  dilapidated,  is 
in  a  more  cleanly  condition  than  any  we  have  seen  in  China.  It 
rejoices  in  one  of  eight  immense  bronze  bells  which  were  cast 
at  Peking  in  the  year  1400  of  our  era,  by  the  Emperor  Yung-Lo. 

.  It  is  of  the  ordinary  bell-shape,  eighteen  feet  high,  with  a  mouth 
thirty-six  feet  in  circumference.  It  has  a  small,  circular  aperture 
at  the  top,  adapted  to  the  apparatus  for  suspending  the  bell.     It  is 


176 


JAPAX,   CnmA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 


literally  covered  inside  and  out  with  raised  texts  in  very  small 
Chinese  characters,  in  all   numbering,  it  is  claimed,  eighty-four 


SUMMER   PALACE. 


thousand.    The  bell  is  made  to  sound  by  being  beaten  with  a  heavy 
wooden  club. 

A  further  drive  of  six  miles  brought  us  to  the  Yuen-Min-Yuen, 
familiarly  called  the  Emperor's  Summer  Palace.  Since  the  time 
of  the  Ming  dynasty,  Yuen-Min-Yuen  was  the  Yersailles  of  China 
until  1860,  when  it  was  sacked,  plundered,  and  destroyed,  by  the 
British  and  French  allied  armies  in  their  advance  on  Peking.  It 
is  not  in  our  way  now  to  describe  its  former  glory,  or  to  relate  the 
story  of  its  catastrophe.  We  must  be  content  in  writing  what  we 
see  and  how  we  see  it.  The  grounds  of  Yuen-Min-Yuen  are  an 
area  of  twelve  square  miles.  It  once  contained  thirty  extensive 
and  costly  palaces  used  by  the  emperor  and  court.  The  invaders 
related   that   the   architecture,  furniture,   and   embellishments  of 


CANALS   OF   TEE   SUMMER  PALACE. 


177 


Yaen-Min-Yuen,  as  tliej  found  it, -were  a  happy  and  effective  com- 
bination of  Oriental   and  AYestern   luxury  and  elegance.     Many 

streams,  gathered  on  adjacent 
mountain-slopes,  are  brought 
into  large  artificial  lakes,  and 
thence  distributed  by  deep 
and  clear  canals  through  the 
grounds,  and  then  used  equal- 
ly for  pleasure,  navigation, 
and  irrigation.  The  canals, 
after  performing  these  serv- 
ices, unite  and  flow  through 
a  broad  and  deep  canal  into 
Peking,  where  they  constitu4:e 
the  great  and  picturesque  lake 
which  we  have  before  men- 
tioned as  the  finest  ornament 
of  the  imperial  city.  While 
the  canals  have  been  built 
with  excellent  masonry,  they 
are  crossed  with  graceful  mar- 
ble bridges  in  various  direc- 
tions. The  fields,  meadows, 
and  lawns,  are  fertile,  but 
now  in  a  condition  of  com- 
plete neglect  and  waste.  At 
the  centre  of  the  plain  a  cu'- 
cular  rocky  islet  rises  abrupt- 
ly to  a  height  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet.  This  arti- 
ficial hill  is  traced  with  spiral 
terraces  which  fascinate  the 
visitor  by  continually  bring- 
ing into  view  palaces,  pavil- 
ions, pagodas,  temples,  all 
.half   concealed    by    hanging 


178  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

gardens  and  groves,  which  are  embellished  with  fountains,  statuary, 
and  shrines.  The  summit  is  crowned  with  an  imperial  summer- 
house  in  the  Italian  style,  its  wall  richly  frescoed,  and  its  roof 
glistening  with  blue  and  yellow  porcelain.  One  of  the  delights  of 
Yuen-Min-Ynen  was  a  unique  temple,  wrought  of  polished  bronze, 
standing  on  the  acclivity  of  this  islet.  We  shall  never  weary  of 
the  Chinese  pagoda.  One  of  those  at  Yuen-Min-Yuen,  which,  with 
the  temple  last  mentioned,  preserves  much  of  its  form  and  beauty,  is 
a  gem  of  that  sort  of  structures.  It  is  of  slender  proportions,  and 
built  entirely  of  porcelain  of  variegated  colors.  There  must  have 
been  a  time  when  the  sculptor  of  China,  while  he  disdained  to  copy 
foreign  models,  had  learned  how  to  bring  Greek  and  Eoman  taste 
and  art  to  give  eifect  to  national  designs.  Although  the  lions,  the 
sphinxes,  and  the  dragons,  which  are  profusely  displayed  here,  are 
imaginative  conceptions,  any  one  of  them  would,  by  its  exquisite 
execution,  excite  admiration  in  Europe. 

The  destruction  of  this  magnificent  palace  by  the  allies  presents 
one  of  those  painful  subjects  concerning  which  agreement  can  never 
be  expected  between  the  generous  and  the  unsympathetic  portions 
of  mankind.  The  allies  say  that  the  demolition  was  a  just  and  even 
necessary  retaliation  against  the  emperor  for  the  cruelty  practised 
by  the  Chinese  Government  toward  Sir  Harry  Parkes.  The  friends 
of  art  throughout  the  world  will  agree  with  the  Chinese  scholars 
and  statesmen,  who  complain  that  the  destruction  of  these  ancient 
and  ornamental  palaces,  with  the  plunder  of  their  stores  of  art,  was 
useless  to  the  invaders,  and  therefore  indefensible.  For  our  own 
part,  we  have  always  thought  that  the  British  army  might  have 
spared  the  Capitol  and  the  presidential  mansion  in  1814;  and  we 
now  think  that  the  allies  might  have  spared  Yuen-Min-Yuen. 
However  this  may  be,  the  fact  remains  that  the  Emperor  of  China, 
ruler  of  the  oldest  monarchy  in  the  world,  is  the  only  sovereign 
who  is  confined  to  a  single  residence,  and  that  in  the  heart  of  a 
crowded  and  walled  city.  The  ruins  are  now  without  tenants,  as 
the  temples  are  without  priests  or  worshippers.  Speculators  and 
adventurers  boldly  barter  for  the  disfigured  statuary  and  for  the 
polished  capitals,  shafts,  and  pedestals,  of  the  bronze  temple.     The 


THE  DECAY   OF  CHIN"A.  179 

roads  are  impassable,  the  marble  bridges  broken  down,  the  canals 
choked,  the  gardens,  groves,  and  walks,  have  become  devastated,  and 
the  plain  itself  is  fast  becoming  a  stagnant  marsh.  Washington, 
Berlin,  Yienna,  and  Moscow,  have  repaired  the  disasters  they  have 
respectively  suffered,  but  the  Chinese  Government  has  no  resources 
or  spirit  for  renovation.  The  decay  of  Yuen-Min-Yuen  must, 
therefore,  continue  until  these  "  round  and  splendid  "  gardens  shall 
become  a  maze  as  unintelligible  to  the  traveller  as  the  palace  of  the 
Caesars  at  Eome. 

It  remains  to  be  said  that  these  imperial  pleasure-resorts  were 
surrounded  by  populous  cities  and  callages,  whose  inhabitants 
derived  their  living  from  ministering  to  the  needs  and  pleasures 
of  the  court.  These  cities  and  villages  are  now  abandoned  to  bats 
and  vermin. 

Arriving  here  after  dark,  we  brought  our  long  and  hizarre  pro- 
cession to  a  halt  in  the  open  streets,  because  the  court -yard  of  the 
inn  would  not  hold  litters  and  carts  with  the  teams  attached.  It 
is  hard  to  say  how  either  Mr.  Seward  or  the  ladies  could  have  been 
able  to  alight  and  thread  their  way  among  the  busy,  curious  crowd 
which  thronged  the  narrow,  crooked  streets,  but  for  the  assistance 
of  Admiral  Eodgers  and  the  consul-general.  We  came  in  safely, 
however,  to  have  our  first  experience  of  lodging  under  a  Chinese 
roof. 

Han^Kow,  November  12>th. — The  mule  litter  is  comfortable, 
and  its  movement  easy,  but  it  makes  only  two  miles  an  hour. 
The  "cribbed,  cabined,  and  confined,"  solitary  occupant  finds 
the  travel  tedious.  We  have  learned,  however,  to  relieve  the 
weariness  by  occasional  changes  with  the  muleteer  and  the  donkey- 
di'iver. 

The  first  part  of  our  journey  to-day  was  over  a  level  table-land. 
The  road  has  been  only  a  narrow,  uneven,  stony  path,  impassable 
with  any  vehicle  other  than  those  we  have  chosen.  During  the 
last  two  hours,  we  have  climbed  six  hundred  feet  of  the  mountain 
slope,  and  have  reached  the  foot  of  the  jSTan-Ivow  Pass,  up  which 
we  must  go  to  reach  the  Great  Wall.     With  the  usual  ruggedness 


180 


JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND  COCHIN  CHINA. 


of  mountain  scenery,  no  part  of  the  country  afltbrds  any  relief  to 
the  general  aspect  of  desolation.     Fahrenheit  32°. 


NAN-KOW   PASS. 


With  few  exceptions,  the  houses  here  are  built  of  adobe,  with 
thatched  roofs,  and  only  one  story  high.  Our  inn  is  of  this  sort, 
and  consists  of  a  low  range  of  very  small  apartments,  built  against 
the  wall  on  the  four  inner  sides  of  a  large,  unpaved  square.  We 
have  to-night,  as  last  night,  secured  the  entire  inn.  Entering  from 
the  street,  we  have  on  that  side  of  the  square  a  row  of  apartments 
which  are  divided  by  the  gate.  On  the  right  of  the  gate  are  the 
rooms,  or  offices,  occupied  by  the  manager  or  keeper  of  the  inn, 
where  orders  are  received.  On  the  left,  a  kitchen,  or  a  series  of 
immense  cooking-houses,  where  victuals  are  cooked  after  the  Chinese 


A  CniKESE  IXK  181 

fashion,  sufficient,  "U'e  should  think,  to  supply  the  whole  town.  It  is 
marvellous  what  economy  of  fuel,  labor,  and  provisions,  this  kitchen 
exhibits.  The  guest  at  the  inn  may  supply  himself  from  it  or  not, 
as  he  pleases.  Perhaps,  it  is  n,eedless  to  say  that  foreigners  never 
do.  Proceeding  through  the  square,  we  have  on  one  side  a  row 
of  apartments  just  like  the  others,  which  are  promiscuously  used, 
according  to  the  exigencies  of  the  occasion,  for  stables  or  lodging- 
rooms.  At  .the  farther  side  of  the  square  are  four  rooms  of  the 
same  sort,  which  we  have  appropriated  for  parlor,  dining-room,  and 
sleeping-apartments.  On  the  other  side  of  the  square,  a  similar 
series  of  accommodations  for  man  and  beast.  The  animals,  diivers, 
and  attendants  are  disposed  of  in  their  lodgings  and  stables,  accord- 
ing to  their  tastes.  The  litters  and  carts  with  their  clumsy,  ragged 
harness  block  up  the  court-yard,  so  that  there  is  no  getting  across 
it  or  through  it,  without  a  guide  and  a  lantern.  Our  own  apart- 
ments, though  we  have  called  them  by  names  which  designate  the 
uses  to  which  we  have  appropriated  them,  are  all  alike.  There  is 
no  corridor  or  veranda  within  or  without,  and  so  no  communica- 
tion between  them  except  through  the  open  court-yard.  The  rooms 
are  about  ten  feet  square  and  seven  feet  high ;  the  floors  of  uneven, 
disjointed  flat  stones,  and  they  seem  to  have  been  never  washed  or 
swept.  The  doors  are  rude,  full  of  crevices,  and  without  fastenings. 
One  small  window  in  each  room  has  a  sash,  covered,  or  meant  to 
be  covered,  with  dingy,  torn,  oiled  paper.  "We  do  not  know  how 
nor  where  the  manager  of  the  inn  procured  the  one  table  and  chair 
with  which  he  has  furnished  our  chosen  dining-room.  Our  servants 
have  hired  utensils  in  the  kitchen  to  prepare  our  supper.  Our  bags 
and  cloaks  supply  the  deficiency  of  chairs.  Across  one  entire  end 
of  each  apartment  is  a  brick  platform,  raised  eighteen  inches  above 
the  stone  floor,  Under  this  platform  is  a  sunken  furnace  with 
reverberatory  flues,  so  placed  as  to  heat  every  part  of  the  surface. 
The  platform  thus  heated,  and  called  the  Tiang^  is  the  common  bed- 
stead of  the  apartment,  and  the  bamboo-mat  spread  over  it  is  the 
common  bed.  A  good  fire  being  built  in  the  kang  in  the  evening, 
it  retains  its  heat  generally  during  the  night.  You  may,  however, 
replenish  it  at  your  pleasure.    The  bedstead  accommodates,  if  neces- 

15 


182  JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

Barj,  ten  persons,  who  stretch  themselves  out  npon  it  side  by  side, 
without  making  any  change  of  clothing,  wrapping  themselves  in 
their  sheej)-skin  jackets. 

"VVe,  of  course,  have  a  separate  room  for  each  of  our  party.  Our 
servants  have  brought  in  the  cushions,  blankets,  and  furs,  from  our 
litters,  and  with  these,  by  the  aid  of  our  dressing-cases,  we  are  able 
to  make  a  pretence  of  toilets.  We  have  even  extemporized  cur- 
tains, which  are  close,  though  not  of  damask.  The  kang  is  throw- 
ing out  a  genial  heat  through  the  room.  We  lie  down  upon  it, 
with  the  stars  twinkling  brightly  through  the  broken  j)aper  panes 
of  the  only  window. 

Novemhei''  IMh,  Morning. — Our  mules  are  not  reliable  for  the 
part  of  our  journey  which  remains.  We  have  ordered  mountain- 
chairs  and  coolies,  and  while  they  are  coming  we  have  made  a 
complete  tour  of  the  inn.  In  the  East,  the  travellers  are  generally 
merchants  or  government  agents.  As  there  are  no  carriage-roads, 
every  one  uses  one,  two,  three,  or  more  beasts.  Forage  is  cum- 
brous, and  therefore  becomes  the  most  serious  care  of  the  inn- 
keeper. Dwellers  in  the  East  invariably  live  in  close  intimacy 
with  their  beasts  ;  hence  cleanliness  is  a  virtue  scarcely  known. 
The  inn,  which  last  night  seemed  to  us  not  absolutely  destitute  of 
comfort,  this  mornino;  is  offensive  and  disgusting. 


o 


JS'an-Kow,  Novemher  14:th,  Evening. — AYe  have  done  it !  We 
have  seen  the  Great  Wall,  We  have  scaled  its  rampart,  walked 
through  its  gates,  examined  its  bastions,  trodden  its  parapet,  looked 
oif  from  its  battlements,  and  rested  under  its  shade.  Eegarding 
this  as  the  greatest  achievement  of  our  journey  thus  far,  we  should 
desire  to  set  down  minutely  and  deliberately  each  one  of  its  inci- 
dents ;  but,  hurried  as  we  are  by  threatening  winter,  we  have  only 
time  to  describe  the  prominent  features,  and  record  an  occasional 
thought. 

China  might  be  designated  as  a  country  of  fortifications  and 
walls.  Without  being  aware  of  this,  we  have  already  mentioned 
the  walls  of  Shanghai,  Tien-Tsin,  Tung-Chow,  and  the  triple  walls 


III       il'y'  IMSf  i.nt^  W    ^ 


^^1     - . 


J 

< 


h 

< 

o 
a 

h 


THE   CITY   OF  NAN-KOW. 


183 


of  the  city  of  Peking.  This  little  city  of  Kan-Kow  lias  fortifications 
adequate  to  the  largest  garrison.  Inscriptions  on  the  gate-ways  and 
arches  in  four  different  dialects,  Mongolian,  Mantchoorian,  Chinese, 
and  Thibetian,  besides  another  dialect  which  is  no  longer  extant, 
prove  the  great  antiquity  of  these  structures.  Besides  these  fortifi- 
cations, Nan-Kow  is  encircled  by  a  wall  which  stretches  over  hill 
and  valley  in  such  a  way  that,  while  it  is  no  longer  useful  for  any 
purpose  of  defence,  one  cannot  but  hope  that  it  may  be  preserved 


GATE   AT   NAN-KOW. 


for  picturesque  efi'ect.     Thus  we  seem  here  not  to  be  seeing  the 
present  China,  but  the  China  of  the  past. 

From  the  very  gate  of  Nan-Kow,  we  found  neither  regular 
road,  nor  marked  nor  beaten  track,  but  a  ravine,  which,  in  the 


184  JAPAN,    CHINA,  AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

lapse  of  ages,  a  torrent  lias  excavated  down  the  mountain,  falling  a 
thousand  feet  in  a  distance  of  twelve  miles.  Our  upward  waj  lay 
m  the  rugged  furrow  of  this  torrent.  Each  passenger  was  lashed 
tightly  in  his  "  mountain "  chair,  which  is  simply  an  arm-chair 
mounted  on  two  shafts,  and  borne  by  four  coolies,  his  safety  de- 
pending on  the  tenacity  with  which  his  feet  press  against  a  swing- 
ing board  suspended  before  him  from  the  shafts.  The  coolies  j)ick 
their  way  by  crossing  from  one  side  to  the  other  over  uneven, 
broken  bowlders  and  rocks,  and  through  deep  gullies.  The  passen- 
ger at  one  moment  is  in  danger  of  slipping  out  backward  from  his 
chair,  at  another  of  being  thrown  out  one  side  or  the  other,  and 
again  of  being  dashed  headlong  on  the  rocks  before  him.  In  some 
places  the  torrent  is  dry,  in  others  the  coolies  are  slipping  over 
treacherous  ice,  or  splashing  through  pools  of  water  among  rounded 
pebbles  and  sharp  rocks  ;  in  short,  over  every  thing  but  dry  earth. 
Steep  mountains  exclude  the  sun's  light  and  heat  at  nearly  all  hours 
of  the  day.  Those  mountains  are  timberless,  tenantless,  dry,  and 
brown.  The  geological  formation  of  the  pass  is  an  alternation  of 
granite,  gneiss,  red  and  yellow  sandstone,  porphyry,  and  marble. 

Having  said  that  our  road  has  none  of  the  qualities  and  condi- 
tions of  a  thoroughfare,  it  will  seem  strange  when  we  now  say  that 
at  intervals  we  encounter,  through  the  whole  pass,  blocks  of  hewn 
and  polished  marble,  with  other  dchris  of  pavements,  culverts, 
bridges,  arches,  and  gates,  indicating  that  it  was  once  a  military 
road  superior  to  the  Appian  "Way  of  Rome. 

Only  Love,  that  "laughs  at  locksmiths,"  could  maintain  his 
sway  in  this  dreary  region.  "We  met,  in  one  of  the  most  fearful 
gorges,  a  magnificent  crimson  wedding-car,  which  was  coming 
down  from  Kiakhta,  to  receive  a  bride  at  Peking.  We  encounter 
on  the  way  a  class  of  travellers  that  we  have  not  before  met.  They 
come  not  in  sedan-chairs,  mule-litters,  or  carts,  but  on  horses,  cam- 
els, and  donkeys ;  and  of  these  there  is  an  endless  procession.  The 
beasts  are  loaded  with  wheat,  barley,  hemp,  flax,  and  wool.  Thirty 
camels  make  up  a  single  train.  One  man  leads  each  six  of  the 
beasts  by  means  of  a  cord  to  which  the  halter  of  each  is  attached. 
Rocking  from  side  to  side,  and  unceasingly  chewing  their  cuds 


THE  MOXGOLIAi^S.  185 

as  they  move  sloTvly  along,  they  excite  interest  by  their  patience, 
docility,  and  perseverance.  Rough  and  vehement  as  the  camel- 
driver  seems,  we  have  not  seen  him  inflict  a  blow,  or  utter  a  word 
of  impatience  toward  the  gentle  beasts. 

Another  class  of  travellers  are  herdsmen.  Mongolia  and 
Mantchooria,  beyond  the  Great  Wall,  are  pasturages,  and  the 
flocks  of  sheep  and  herds  of  cattle  which  are  raised  there  are 
brought  chiefly  through  this  pass,  to  be  spread  over  the  great 
plain  of  ISTorth  China. 

The  Mongolians  dress  altogether  in  furs  and  skins.  They  have 
an  air  of  independence  and  intelligence  not  observable  in  China 
proper.  The  women  are  particularly  strong,  and,  as  we  judge' 
from  their  manner,  entirely  free.  Their  furs  are  richer  than  those 
of  the  men,  and  they  wear  a  profusion  of  silver  ornaments  on  the 
forehead,  wrist,  and  ankle,  as  well  as  suspended  from  their  ears 
and  nose.  They  travel  with  their  husbands,  who  divide  with  them 
the  care  of  the  children.  If  it  is  discourao-iuo;  to  some  at  home  to 
wait  for  the  restoration  of  woman's  rights,  it  is  pleasant  to  find  her 
in  the  full  enjoyment  of  them  here,  in  spite  of  Oriental  prejudices 
and  superstitions.  The  mountain-cliffs  are  ornamented  at  conven- 
ient and  prominent  points  with  pretty  temples  and  unique  shrines, 
and  pious  devices  and  legends  are  carved  on  what  seem  to  be  in- 
accessible basaltic  rocks.  But  the  temples  and  shrines,  no  longer 
attended  by  votaries,  are  falling  into  ruin. 

Keachino;  at  leno-th  the  source  of  the  mountain-torrent  which 
has  made  such  fearful  devastation,  we  found  ourselves  in  a  dell 
surrounded  by  mountains,  and  from  their  crests  the  Great  Wall 
encircling  and  frowning  down  upon  us.  Our  chairmen  at  once, 
with  renewed  vigor  and  elasticity,  carried  us  up  a  rugged  declivity 
of  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  clambering  over  shivered  and  shattered 
rocks,  and  set  us  down  within  a  redoubt  at  the  very  base  of  the 
wall,  three  hundred  feet  above  the  dell  which  we  had  left.  The 
wall  varies  in  height  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  feet.  The  base  here, 
twenty  feet  high,  is  built  of  solid,  hewn  granite. 

We  were  not  long  in  ascending  the  well-preserved  flight  of 
stone  steps  which  led  to  the  parapet.     The  top   of  the  wall  is 


186  JAPAN,   CHIXA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

wide  enough  for  two  carriages  to  pass.  From  tlie  parapet  we  con- 
templated the  conquered  China  of  the  past,  which  was  below  us, 
and  the  conquering  Tartary  of  the  past,  which  was  above  us,  both 
now  under  one  regime^  and  constituting  one  vast,  but  crumbling 
empire.  In  the  embrasures  of  the  parapet  we  fomid,  here  and 
there,  a  cast-iron  grooved  cannon  of  four-pound  calibre.  It  passed 
our  comprehension  to  conceive  when  it  was  put  there,  or  for  what 
purpose.  We  entered  a  watch-tower  on  our  left,  and  saw,  at  a  dis- 
tance of  forty  miles,  murky  Peking. 

The  Great  Wall  crosses  twenty-one  degrees  of  longitude  from 
the  Pacific  coast  to  the  desert  border  of  Thibet,  and  with  its  wind- 
ings has  a  length  of  from  twelve  hundred  to  fifteen  hundred  miles. 
It  seems  almost  incredible  that  this  gigantic  structure,  the  greatest 
fortification  that  has  been  built  bv  human  hands,  could  have  been 
raised  in  the  short  space  of  about  twenty  years.  Yet  history 
assures  us  that  Chin-Wangti  began  the  work  in  the  year  240  b.  c, 
and  finished  it  in  220  b.  c.  !N^or  is  the  perfection  of  the  work  less 
wonderful  than  the  dispatch  with  which  it  was  built.  Although  it 
here  and  there  exhibits  crumbling  arches  and  falling  ramparts,  it 
nevertheless  stands  more  firmly  and  in  better  preservation  than 
any  ancient  structure,  except  perhaps  the  Pyramids.  Yery  slight 
repairs  would  restore  it  to  its  original  state. 

"  Admiral  Rodgers,"  said  Mr.  Seward,  as  we  leaned  against  the 
immovable  parapet,  "  will  you  take  your  pencil  and  make  an  esti- 
mate of  the  comparative  cost  of  constructing  a  mile  of  this  wall,  at 
the  present  day,  with  that  of  a  mile  of  the  Pacific  Railroad  %  " 

The  two  gentlemen  went  through  the  process  together,  and 
agreed  in  the  result  that  the  cost  of  building  such  a  wall  as  this,  in 
the  United  States  to-day,  would  exceed  the  entire  cost  of  all  the 
railroads  in  that  country. 

"I  never  before,"  said  Mr.  Seward,  "found  myself  in  a  position 
so  suggestive  of  reflection.  This  great  monument  tells,  in  brief,  the 
history  of  China.  Aboriginal  tribes  of  the  Mongolian  race,  forty 
or  fifty  centuries  ago,  left  cold  and  sterile  homes  in  the  north, 
spread  themselves  over  the  southeastern  portion  of  the  continent 
of  Asia,  established  there  a  kingdom,  and  built  up  a  prosperous  and 


REFLECTIONS   ON"  THE   GREAT  WALL.  187 

hio-lilj-refined  state.  They  were  annoyed  by  incursions  and  dep- 
redations from  the  same  northern  steppes  which  they  had  left 
behind  tliem,  just  as  England  M'as  so  long  annoyed  by  incursions 
and  depredations  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  Danes  and  Saxons.  Chin- 
Wangti,  king  of  civilized  China,  built  this  great  wall  to  protect  the 
country  against  those  nomadic  tribes.  The  completion  of  so  great 
a  work  justified  him  in  laying  aside  the  modest  title  of  king,  and 
assuming  the  more  ambitious  one  of  emperor — the  first  emperor 
of  China.  It  is  not  an  unimportant  consideration  that  the  culmina- 
tion of  the  Chinese  Empire,  marked  by  the  construction  of  the  Great 
Wall,  was  coincident  with  the  decline  of  Grecian  arts  and  arms  and 
with  the  establishment  of  Roman  empire  on  the  western  shores  of 
Asia.  The  Great  Wall  served  its  purpose  through  the  period  of 
fourteen  hundred  years.  But,  during  this  time,  wealth  and  luxury 
increased  in  China,  while  moral  vigor  declined.  An  enervated  state 
provoked  the  rapacity  of  its  neighbors.  Kublai-Khan  efiected  a 
combination  of  all  the  Tartar  and  Mongolian  hordes  of  the  north. 
They  forced  the  wall,  conquered  and  enslaved  China.  Chinese 
morals  and  manners,  however,  subdued  and  modified  the  character 
of  their  conquerors.  The  wall  ceased  to  be  needful,  because  the 
Chinese  and  Tartars  became  reconciled,  assimilated,  and  contented, 
under  the  sway  of  the  Mantchoorian  dynasty.  How  little  can 
human  foresight  ever  penetrate  the  remote  future !  How  little 
Chin-Wangti  understood  of  the  fate  of  the  Great  "Wall.  Is  it  not 
well  that  human  power  cannot  bind  or  control  for  an  indefinite 
future  the  destinies  of  any  nation  ? " 

Occupied  with  such  reflections  as  these,  we  took  no  note  of  the 
hours  until  the  shadows  began  to  fall,  and  the  wind  became  cold 
and  bleak.  We  descended  and  sat  at  the  base  of  tlie  rampart, 
where  we  found  a  dinner  spread  upon  an  uneven  table  of  broken 
granite  blocks. 

"Admiral,"  said  Mr.  Seward,  "our  Government  informed  me, 
when  I  was  coming  abroad,  that  you  were  instructed  to  show  me 
courteous  attentions,  if  I  should  be  so  fortunate  as  to  meet  you  in 
Asiatic  waters.  You  have  executed  these  instructions  in  a  manner 
equally  considerate   and  kind.      Ton   not   only  received  me  at 


188  japa:n",  china,  and  cochin  china. 

Shanghai  with  the  usual  naval  demonstrations  of  respect,  but,  with 
your  official  staif,  you  have  accompanied  me,  in  the  character  of  a 
protector  as  well  as  a  friend,  through  the  stormy  Yellow  Sea,  the 
agitated  political  scenes  of  Tien-Tsin,  up  the  tedious  Pei-ho,  over 
the  desolate  plains  of  Tung-Chow  to  Peking,  and  from  there  to  the 
Great  Wall,  where  we  can  look  back  together  on  the  declining- 
power  of  China,  and  forward  to  the  coming  of  Western  civilization 
from  the  shores  of  our  own  country  to  the  Asiatic  coast." 

The  admiral  replied :  "  I  have  esteemed  myself  fortunate,  as 
well  as  happy,  in  having  had  an  o])portunity  of  attending  you  to 
Peking  and  the  Great  Wall — fortunate  in  having  your  ripe  and 
varied  experience  to  assist  me  in  forming  opinions,  and  in  drawing 
deductions  from  what  I  have  seen  ;  happy  in  the  continual  familiar 
intercourse  with  me  whom  it  is  not  only  a  duty,  but  a  pleasure,  to 
honor.  Truly  do  I  hope  that  your  health  may  continue  no  less 
robust,  and  vour  endurance  no  less  marked,  than  in  our  rough  ex- 
perience  together,  and  that  your  personal  observations  in  other 
climes,  of  other  peoples,  may  not  be  of  less  interest  and  benefit  to 
mankind  than  those  you  make  here." 

Our  party  broke  into  detachments  and  all  communications  be- 
tween its  members  ceased.  What  a  lonely  tramp  did  we  now  have ! 
At  length  we  reached  the  half-way  coolie  station.  There  the 
bearers  set  us  down  outside,  while  they  went  into  the  huts  to  re- 
fresh. Half  a  dozen  men  and  boys  came  around  the  ladies'  chairs, 
and  proceeded  to  examine  their  dresses,  unable  to  determine 
whether  the  habiliments  were  those  of  man  or  woman.  Well  they 
might  be  perplexed.  The  Astrakhan  cap  might  be  worn  by  either. 
The  long,  heavy  fox-skin  coat  and  white  mandarin  boots  were 
equally  perplexing.  They  drew  the  gloves  from  off  the  fingers. 
These  rudenesses  were  disturbing  enough,  but  at  last  became  unen- 
durable when  they  thrust  their  fingers  into  the  hair,  and  ofiered 
their  filthy  pipes,  inviting  a  general  smoke.  Just  then,  when  the 
ladies  seemed  to  have  passed  completely  beyond  the  society  of  their 
own  race,  they  heard  the  shrill  voice  of  a  baby  within  the  hut,  crying 
not  especially  in  the  Chinese  language,  but  in  the  universal  dialect 
of  infancy,  with  the  response  of  the  soothing  lullaby  of  the  mother, 


THE   MIN'G   TOMBS. 


189 


equally  natural.  These  incidents  reassured  the  ladies,  and  showed 
them  that  the  Chinese  are  yet  human,  and  they  gave  over  all 
thoughts  of  fear  and  torment. 

After  a  march  of  three  more  tedious  hours,  we  have  reached  the 
same  wretched  inn  which  we  left  this  morning.  AYe  conclude  the 
notes  of  our  journey  by  mentioning  that,  a  thousand  years,  more  or 
less,  after  the  wall  was  built  by  Chin-Wangti,  a  second  one  was 
built  for  greater  security,  at  the  eastern  end,  forty  miles  south  of 
the  original  one,  both  of  which  remain  standing.  It  is  this  second 
wall  last  built,  but  similar  to  and  constituting  a  part  of  the  original 
system  of  defence,  that  we  have  visited. 

Ming  Toml)s,  Noveiiiber  IMh. — Resuming  our  litter,  and  mov- 
ing early  this  morning,  we  came  down  from  the  mountain  terrace, 
and  entered  a  smooth,  level,  circular  plain,  seeming  more  like  a 
bay  which  indents  a  high,  rocky  coast,  than  the  amphitheatre  of 
landscape  and  mountain  which  it  is.  The  terrace  which  surrounds 
the  plain  was  chosen  by  the  emperors  of  the  Ming  d}masty  for  an 


GATEWAY   AT   MING   TOMBS. 


190  JAPA^T,   CHINA,   AND  COCHIN  CHINA. 

imperial  cemetery.  It  is  divided  into  thirteen  areas,  seemingly  of 
equal  extent.  Each  of  these  areas  is  covered  with  luxuriant  gar- 
dens, out  of  the  midst  of  which  rises  a  magnificent  mausoleum, 
called  here  a  temple,  but  which  is  in  fact  a  tomb.  Dr.  "Williams 
tells  us  that  "Ming"  means  "bright."  The  "Bright"  dynasty 
flourished  from  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  to  the  middle  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  JSTanking,  for  a  time  the  capital,  has  a  cemetery 
of  the  earlier  rulers  of  that  dynasty.  But  we  understand  that  it  is 
not  so  well  preserved  as  this. 

All  the  tombs  are  of  one  type.  We  visited  that  of  Yung  Lo, 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  of  the  emperors  of  China.  His 
decrees  of  laws  and  manners,  grounded  on  the  writings  of  Con- 
fucius, with  some  alteration,  constitute  even  now  the  code  of  the 
Chinese  Empire.  We  sat  down  here  to  rest  in  an  ancient  grove  of 
persimmons,  live-oaks,  acacias,  and  cypresses. 

"It  seems,"  said  Mr.  Seward,  "that  it  is  not  until  society 
reaches  a  high  state  of  civilization  in  any  country  that  it  learns  the 
absurdity  of  sepulchral  monuments.  Great  achievements  and  rare 
virtues  leave  an  impression  upon  mankind  so  deep,  that  they  need 
no  monumental  reminder,  while  the  attempt  to  supply  the  want  of 
that  impression  by  extravagant  art  is  a  mockery."  But  let  us  see 
how  the  Chinese  of  the  past  ages  honored  their  illustrious  dead.  It 
is  manifest  that  the  device  of  a  series  of  concentric  structures,  rising 
one  above  the  other,  is  a  favorite  form  of  Chinese  architecture. 
This  vast  monument  contains  five  courts,  one  within  the  other. 
The  structures  are  two  temples,  disconnected  and  distant  from 
each  other,  but  essentially  alike  in  design  and  construction — the 
outer  one  serving  as  a  vestibule  to  the  inner  or  principal  one. 
This  inner  temple,  with  its  red  walls  and  its  plain  balustrades  and 
railings,  is  in  form  and  style  quite  like  the  great  Temple  of  Con- 
fucius at  Peking.  Its  proportions  are  equally  grand,  tasteful,  and 
simple.  Its  massive  yellow-porcelain  roof,  with  its  bright  green- 
and-gold  ceiling,  rests  upon  two  rows  of  wooden  columns,  of  which 
there  are  thirty  in  each  —  the  columns  fifty  feet  high,  with  a 
diameter  of  four  feet  at  the  base.  Behind  the  temple  and  in  the 
fourth  court  stands  an  uncovered  altar,  the  top  of  which  is  a  mono- 


THE  TOMB  OF  YUNG  LO.  191 

lith  measuring  twenty-two  feet  by  five  feet.  Directly  beliind  tlie 
altar  is  a  pagoda  of  three  stories.  Entering  this  pagoda  through 
an  arched  door,  you  confront  a  large  tablet  of  red  and  gold,  which 
covers  the  remains  of  Yung  Lo.  You  then  ascend  not  a  staircase, 
but  a  long  and  winding  inclined  plane,  some  sixty  feet,  to  the  sec- 
ond story.  This  second  story  rises  seventy  feet;  in  the  centre 
of  this  is  a  smaller  tablet,  like  the  one  in  the  first  story.  The  third 
story,  reached  in  the  same  way,  is  an  open  space  under  the  roof. 

Although  we  observe,  in  these  buildings  and  grounds,  marks  of 
care  and  attention  not  elsewhere  seen  in  China,  there  is  neverthe- 
less painful  evidence  that  the  work  of  dilapidation  has  begun  even 
here. 

The  path  by  which  we  reached  the  cemetery  was  an  indirect 
one.  Contrary  to  usage,  therefore,  we  made  our  exit  instead  of  our 
entrance  by  the  avenue  designed  for  approach  from  Peking.  This 
avenue  is  twenty-two  miles  long,  well  graded,  and  originally  was 
paved  in  the  most  substantial  manner.  This  road  descends  from 
the  tomb-covered  terrace  upon  the  level  plain,  at  a  distance  of  one 
mile  from  the  tomb  of  Yung  Lo.  Here  it  crosses  a  stream  or 
canal  by  a  noble  marble  bridge,  not  wholly  ruined.  This  bridge  is 
graced  with  what  is  here  called  the  honorary  arch,  a  majestic  gate- 
way, built  not  for  use  but  for  effect,  like  the  triumphal  arches  of 
Rome  or  Paris.  A  mile  farther  the  road  leaves  the  level  plain 
under  a  similar  arch.  Having  passed  these  gates,  we  found  the 
avenue  adorned,  for  the  length  of  a  whole  mile,  by  a  row,  on  either 
side,  of  gigantic  granite  figures.  Whoever  may  read  these  notes 
will  remember  that  the  proper  order  of  these  colossal  figures  is 
the  reverse  of  that  in  which  we  passed  them.  First,  we  came  be- 
tween two  rows  of  statues  representing  philosophers  and  moralists, 
four  on  each  side  of  the  way.  Then  four  generals,  arranged  in  like 
manner  on  each  side,  then  four  priests,  then  four  ministers  or 
statesmen.  These  figures  are  about  twelve  feet  high,  their  costume 
Chinese.  By  their  attitude  and  expression  they  seem  to  point  with 
silent  homage  to  the  tombs  of  the  great  beyond.  l!^ext  we  pass  in 
review  a  double  row  of  equally  colossal  horses,  four  on  each  side, 
two  of  them  resting  on  their  haunches,  and  two  erect ;   next  ele- 


192 


JAPAN,    CIIIXA,    AND   COCHIN"   CHINA. 


pliants  erect,  and  elephants  in  a  sitting  posture  ;  then  camelij 
standing  and  camels  couchant  ;  then  lions  rampant  and  lions 
asleep  ;  then  buffaloes  standing  and  at  rest ;  then  asses,  and  at 
the  end  rhinoceroses.  Hera  two  arches  of  honor,  like  those  at  the 
other  end  of  the  avenue,  open  on  unconsecrated  ground.  Though 
the  sculpture  must  have  been  executed  three  hundred  years  ago,  it 
excels  much  of  the  statuary  found  in  the  public  grounds  at  Wash- 
ington, and  is  very  effective.  Of  this  we  have  evidence  so  strong 
that  we  should  be  afraid  to  produce  it,  if  there  were  not  a  cloud  of 


AVENUE  TO   THE   MING   TOMBS. 


witnesses  to  verify  it.  We  give  their  names — the  Admiral,  the 
Consul-General,  John  Middleton,  Esq.,  Alfred  Rodman,  Esq.,  and 
William  Freeman.  Here  is  the  evidence  :  The  lean  lead  mule 
of  Mr.  Seward's  litter  is  a  large,  strong,  spirited  beast.  Although 
he  had  given  proofs  of  this  many  times  by  stentorian  braying,  ex- 
pressive of  discontent  and  obstinacy,  yet  he  made  the  journey 
from  Peking  to  Nan-Kow,  and  through  the  sacred  groves  of  the 
Ming  tombs,  without  any  especial  fractiousness.  But  he  was  only 
reserving  himself  for  a  display  on  the  grand  avenue.     Even  here 


PRANKS  OF  A  MULE.  193 

he  made  no  demonstration  at  the  magnificent  marble  bridge.  He 
passed  meekly  under  the  double  arches  of  honor.  He  turned 
neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left,  to  pay  homages  to  either  colos- 
sal philosophers,  generals,  priests,  or  statesmen.  He  even  passed 
the  recumbent  horses  on  both  sides  of  him  without  turning  his  head 
or  pricking  up  his  ears.  But  the  first  great  stone  horse  standing 
erect,  on  the  left,  proved  too  much  for  the  equanimity  of  the  mule. 
Perceiving  that  statue  at  a  distance  of  three  or  four  rods,  he  broke 
all  of  a  sudden  from  his  lazy  walk  into  a  sharp  trot,  discarding  his 
driver  and  drao^o-ino-  the  rear  mule  behind  him ;  res-ardless  that, 
in  the  litter  which  he  bore,  was  seated  the  venerated  chief  of  our 
party,  he  dashed  furiously  forward  to  the  granite  horse,  and,  throw- 
ing his  head  upward,  presented  his  broad,  graceless  mouth  to  the 
more  stubborn  jaw  of  the  statue.  The  muleteers,  alarmed  by  this 
strange  performance,  cried  out  with  dismay,  and  the  gentlemen 
hastened  to  rescue  Mr.  Seward  from  being  dashed  against  the  figure. 
Happily,  at  this  moment,  the  muleteers  seized  the  brute  by  the 
head,  in  the  act  of  saluting  his  ancient  and  unappreciative  distant 
relation,  and  buffeted  him  away.  He  yielded,  but  not  without  a 
shaking  of  the  ears,  and  an  unearthly  complaint  from  the  lungs, 
which  left  no  one  in  doubt  that  the  animal  thought  he  was  unrea- 
sonably deprived  of  a  just  and  rational  pleasm*e. 

Though  not  yet  qualified  for  comparing  the  Imperial  Cemetery 
of  China  with  the  sepulchral  architecture  of  other  countries,  we 
may  nevertheless  venture  to  say  that  the  impressive  and  suggestive 
avenue  of  approach,  the  spaciousness  of  the  grounds,  the  severe 
exclusion  of  all  foreign  or  incongruous  objects,  the  drawing  into 
contrast  mountain  and  plain  M'ith  ancient  groves,  and  natural 
rivulets  with  arched  bridges,  the  magnificence  and  elegance  of  the 
temples,  and  the  simplicity  and  durability  of  the  memorial  tablets, 
constitute  an  extraordinary  and  masterly  combination.  Wliatever 
may  be  the  historical  merit  of  the  Ming  emperors  whose  ashes  are 
deposited  in  those  tombs,  no  one  can  leave  the  place  doubting  that 
the  honors  they  have  received  here  are  such  as  are  due  to  bene- 
factors of  mankind. 

I 


CHAPTEE  X. 

LAST  DAYS  IN  FEEING. 

Cham-Ping-Chow. — A  Chinese  Inn. — The  Roman  Catholics  in  China. — The  Cathedral. — 
The  Tien-Tsin  Massacre. — Christian  Policy. — Interview  with  Robert  Hart. — A  Letter 
from  Sun-Tajen  and  Chi-Tajen. — Letter  from  Prince  Kung. — Interview  with  the 
Prince. — The  Prince's  Present. — Departure  from  Peking. 

Peking,  Noveimher  IQth. — We  passed  the  niglit  at  Cbam-Ping- 
Chow,  a  town  of  considerable  activity.  Our  inn  was  siicli  a  one  as 
we  could  procure  exclusively  without  gi'v^ng  previous  notice.  Our 
guides  say  there  are  some  that  are  better.  "We  are  quite  sure  there 
are  none  which  can  be  worse.  But,  if  we  fare  badly  in  Chinese  inns, 
we  have  the  consolation  of  knowing  that  we  fare  cheaply?  We  do 
not  know  what  were  the  bills  of  our  coolies  for  man  and  beast. 
They  could  not  have  been  extravagant,  for  the  entire  compensation 
which  we  have  paid  to  them  for  the  journey  to  Peking  to  the 
wall  and  back  again  is  only  ten  dollars  for  each  litter  and  cart. 
The  expenses  of  our  party  of  ten  at  the  inn  was  three  Mexican 
dollars  for  all,  of  which  seventy-tive  cents  was  paid  for  extra  fuel 
for  the  kang.  The  impression  made  on  us,  by  the  conduct  of  the 
people  who  came  under  our  observation,  does  not  go  to  confirm  the 
belief  that  they  are  either  hostile  or  prejudiced  against  foreigners, 
while  it  does  satisfy  us  that  they  are  punctual  and  exact  in  the 
fulfilment  of  their  contracts.     The  mercury  has  fallen  to  26°. 

November  17th. — By  the  laws  of  China,  the  Poman  Catholic 
religion  is  tolerated  here.     That  Church  has  on  paper  divided  the 


THE  TIEX-TSIN  MASSACRE.  195 

empire  into  bishoprics  and  vicarates.  It  counts  eight  bishopries  or 
more,  sixty  foreign  priests,  one  hundred  and  twenty  native  priests, 
and  four  hundred  thousand  native  converts. 

We  visited,  to-day,  the  Cathedral  at  Peking.  It  is  a  fine,  h^rge, 
stone  edifice,  with  an  adjoining  nunnery.  The  sisters  are  French 
and  Irish.  There  is  a  large  number  of  native  servants.  It  seems 
quite  apparent  that  converts  are  obtained  as  fast  as  the  missionaries 
are  able  to  furnish  them  employment  and  support,  which  is  an 
indispensable  condition.  Native  jealousy  feeds  on  a  tradition  that 
the  spacious  grounds  occupied  by  those  institutions  were  obtained 
without  equivalent.  ISTor  does  the  same  jealousy  fail  to  take  notice 
that  the  Church  arrogates  a  right  denied  even  to  foreign  embassies, 
of  using  the  imperial  yellow  color  in  the  ornamentation  of  its 
portals  and  walls.  Sister  Louise,  lamented  as  the  noblest  and  best 
beloved  of  the  martyrs  at  Tien-Tsin,  had  arrived  there  just  before 
the  massacre.  The  sisters  gave  us  relics  of  her.  What  shall  we 
say  concerning  that  terrible  transaction  ? 

It  is  right,  just,  and  wise,  that  aU  the  Christian  nations  shall 
mourn  together  over  the  victims,  sympathize  with  the  survivors, 
and  unite  in  demanding  such  satisfaction  from  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment  as  would  afford  security  against  a  recurrence  of  persecution. 
But  this  has  been  already  done  as  fully,  it  seems  to  us,  as  is  possible. 
The  Chinese  Government  has  beheaded  eighteen  of  the  murderers, 
has  provided  for  repairing  and  restoring  the  demolished  buildings, 
and  paid  an  indemnity  of  six  hundred  thousand  taels  for  distribu- 
tion to  the  families  of  the  victims.  It  has,  moreover  sent  one  of  the 
most  eminent  statesmen  of  China,  who  is  fully  conversant  with  the 
details  of  the  tragedy,  to  make  such  further  explanations  and  give 
such  further  guarantees  as  the  French  Government  may  reasonably 
demand.  The  French  minister  here,  under  high  excitement  and 
with  threats  of  war,  demanded,  besides  those  concessions,  the  heads 
of  the  two  chief  mandarins  who  were  in  authority  at  the  time  the 
massacre  occurred.  The  Chinese  Government  brought  those  man- 
darins to  trial.  The  charge  of  complicity  was  not  sustained. 
Nevertheless  the  Government  banished  them  for  life,  as  a  punish- 
ment for  their  imbecility. 


190  JAPAX,    CHINA,    AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

We  know  that  here,  as  well  as  throughout  Europe  and  the 
United  States,  it  is  alleged  that  these  proceedings  of  the  Chinese 
Government  are  fraudulent  and  evasive ;  but  we  fail  to  find  evi- 
dence of  fraud,  nor  can  we  divine  a  motive  for  it.  It  is  not  to  be 
forgotten  that  persecution  of  Christian  missionaries,  and  especially 
persecution  of  Roman  Catholic,  is  not  exclusively  confined  to  the 
Chinese.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church,  with  its  high  ecclesiastical 
pretensions,  its  monastical  institutions,  and  its  denial  of  the  right 
of  judgment  by  individual  conscience,  has  come  into  conflict  not 
only  with  the  pagan  systems  of  Asia,  but  with  the  enlightened 
civilization  of  the  age.  Here,  as  in  Europe  and  the  United  States, 
it  has  fallen,  however  undeservedly,  under  popular  suspicion  in 
two  forms :  first,  a  suspicion  of  political  usurpation,  that  is  to  say, 
of  an  attempt  to  establish  imperiuni  in  imjyerio ;  second,  the  sus- 
picion of  impurity  of  morals  in  celibate  life. 

In  which  of  the  Western  nations  has  the  conflict  between  that 
Church  and  those  who  dissent  from  it  been  carried  on  without 
occasional  riot,  massacre,  and  martyrdom — not  to  speak  of  the 
religious  wars  which  attended  the  Protestant  Reformation?  In 
what  Western  nation  did  a  government  ever  offer  more  efliective 
or  liberal  reparation  than  that  which  the  Chinese  Government  has 
given  in  this  case  ?  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the  Protestant 
countries  in  the  West,  which  have  suppressed  monastic  institutions, 
and  sequestered  ecclesiastical  estates,  will  sympathize  with  demands 
of  France  that  shall  go  beyond  a  guarantee  of  rights  and  privileges 
for  all  Christians  in  China.  Missionaries  of  all  sects  ought  to  re- 
member that,  where  the  Gospel  comes,  there  "  it  must  needs  be  that 
ofiences  come,"  nor  should  they  forget  that  the  command,  "  Go  ye, 
therefore,  and  teach  all  nations,"  was  accompanied  by  the  warning 
injunction,  not  less  sublime  than  the  command  itself,  "  Behold,  I 
send  you  forth  as  sheep  in  the  midst  ol  wolves ;  be  ye  therefore 
wise  as  serpents  and  harmless  as  doves." 

Novemher  ISth. — One  of  the  most  important  incidents  of  our 
sojourn  here  was  reserved  for  this  morning.  This  was  an  interview 
with  Mr.  Robert  Hart.     Can  any  thing  be  more  capricious  than 


ME.   ROBERT   HART.  197 

international  politics  ?  The  British  and  French  allies,  after  having 
pressed  the  empire  to  the  verge,  found  it  necessary  all  of  a  sudden 
to  strike  hands  with  the  Government  in  its  war  with  the  rebels,  in 
order  to  prevent  a  complete  dissolution  of  society.  With  their  aid, 
the  Government  eflectually  suppressed  the  rebellion.  Then  came 
the  question  of  reimbursements  and  indemnities  to  be  paid  to  the 
allies.  The  revenue  system  of  China  had  become  corrupt  and 
effete.  The  Imperial  Government  could  guarantee  nothing.  In 
this  difficult  conjuncture,  a  happy  expedient  was  hit  upon.  The 
Government,  with  assurances  of  protection  by  Great  Britain  and 
France,  consented  to  reorganize  its  customs  revenue  upon  a  Euro- 
pean basis,  and  confide  it  to  the  management  of  a  European  skilled 
in  finance,  who,  with  a  staff  of  his  appointment,  half  Chinese  and 
half  European,  should  fix  a  uniform  rate  of  duties  on  foreign  im- 
ports, collect  them,  pay  the  stipulated  indemnities  to  the  allies,  and 
the  surplus  into  the  imperial  treasury.  That  functionary,  under  the 
official  title  of  inspector-general,  is  Mr.  liobert  Hart.  While  the 
internal  revenue  system  of  China  remains  in  a  distracted  and  dilap- 
idated state,  he  has  brought  the  customs  department  into  a  flourish- 
ing condition.  He  returned  only  to-day  from  a  journey  of  inspec- 
tion of  the  open  ports  in  distant  parts  of  the  empire.  "VVe  found 
him  a  far-seeing  and  able  statesman,  having  in  finance,  at  least, 
something  of  the  scope  and  capacity  of  Alexander  Hamilton.  But 
we  reserve  further  remark  on  this  system  until  we  shall  have 
studied  its  workings  in  the  central  and  southern  ports  of  the 
empire. 

A  letter  from  our  old  friends  Chi-Tajen  and  Sun-Tajen.  If 
there  is  a  discrepancy  between  their  names  as  known  to  us  and 
their  autogi-aph  cards,  it  will  be  understood  that  the  word  "  Tajen," 
which  is  affixed  to  their  names,  is  a  designation  of  rank,  and  not  a 
proper  name.  Mr.  Seward  is  here  addressed,  not  by  that  name,  but 
as  Sew-Tajen. 

"  To  William  H.  Seward — 

"  Sm :  We  arrived  in  Peking  yesterday,  from  Tien-Tsin,  and 
had  earnestly  desired  to  hasten  to  you,  in  order  to  express  to  you 


198  JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

our  great  pleasure.  But  the  trip  up  from  Shanghai  has  been  ex- 
ceedingly boisterous,  making  us  very  sick  and  giddy,  so  that  we 
are  altogether  exhausted.  Furthermore,  we  have  not  yet  been  able 
to  submit  a  note  requesting  that  we  may  be  permitted  to  prostrate 
ourselves  before  the  throne,  and  inquire  for  his  Majesty's  health, 
and  procure  a  short  leave  of  absence  from  the  foreign  office,  which 
must  be  done  through  Prince  Kung.  It  would  be  contrary  to 
court  usage  to  make  a  visit  to  you  before  having  complied  with  that 
ceremony,  even  if  we  were  not  so  completely  prostrated  that  we 
could  hardly  do  so,  in  a  proper  manner. 

"  We  sincerely  wish  to  repair  to  your  residence  to  thank  you 
for  all  your  generous  and  loving  acts,  which  were  so  great  and 
troublesome  to  you.  But  they  are  indelibly  graven  on  our  hearts, 
where  they  will  remain  forever.     And  how  can  we  forget  them  ? 

"  We  wish  that  your  happiness  may  never  cease. 

(Cards)  "  Chih-Kang, 

"  Sun-Chia-Kuh." 

N'oveniber  19M. — On  the  17th,  international  dinner  and  ball  at 
the  legation  ;  on  the  18th,  received  visits  from  the  foreign  ladies 
residing  in  Peking,  and,  our  time  here  growing  short,  we  took 
sedan-chairs  and  returned  the  visits  on  the  same  day.  This  even- 
ing a  letter  was  received  from  Prince  Kung. 

"  To  William  H.  Sewaed,  etc. 

"  Sir  :  I  have  just  heard  that  you  and  your  party  have  returned 
from  your  trip  to  the  country,  and  I  have,  with  the  officers  of  the 
foreign  office,  arranged  to  visit  you  to-morrow,  at  one  o'clock,  at 
the  United  States  legation. 

"  I  hope  this  hour  will  be  agreeable  to  you  all. 

"  I  beg  to  wish  you  daily  peace." 

Autograph  cards  enclosed : 

"  PRmcE  Kung,  "  Pasyun, 

"  YUNG-SUOT,  "  CHm-KlOSTFAW, 

"  WaS-ChANG-HI,  "  YSUNG-LIJN." 


PRINCE  KUNG.  199 

Novemher  2Qth. — At  one  o'clock,  Prince  Kimg,  with  the  minis- 
ters of  the  foreign  office,  came,  having  previously  sent  in  their 
eai'ds  according  to  the  book  of  rites.  They  came  in  chairs,  and 
were  received  by  the  band  at  the  entrance  of  the  court,  with  a 
Chinese  national  air  which  they  had  learned  for  the  occasion.  The 
music,  although  by  no  means  inspiring  to  us,  seemed  to  please 
them.  Mrs.  Low,  having  first  provided  a  table,  half  American,  half 
Chinese,  retired  with  the  other  ladies  to  an  inner  room,  where  they 
could  observe,  unobserved.  The  prince  is  the  brother  of  the  last 
emperor,  and  uncle  of  the  present  emperor,  who  is  yet  in  his 
minority.  The  government  of  the  empire  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
regency,  consisting  of  the  young  emperor's  mother  and  aunt,  and 
Prince  Kung.  The  two  ladies  take  charge  of  the  boy's  person  and 
education,  while  the  prince  exercises  the  sovereign  political  author- 
ity. All  edicts,  however,  run  in  the  name  of  the  emperor,  without 
any  notice  of  the  regency  except  the  form  of  attestation.  The 
female  regents  maintain  strictly  the  reserve  required  of  their  sex, 
being  never  seen  even  by  any  minister  of  the  government.  When 
a  decree  is  to  be  made,  Prince  Kung  proceeds  with  the  draught  to 
the  palace,  and  announces  his  presence  before  a  curtain.  The 
ladies  then  come  behind  the  curtain,  and  receive  and  read  the 
decree.  They  impress  it  with  their  seals.  A  eunuch  delivers  it 
to  the  prince,  who,  affixing  his  own  seal,  hands  it  to  the  "  state- 
printer  "  in  an  outer  chamber.  Before  he  reaches  his  department, 
the  decree  is  published  and  in  circulation. 

The  prince  is  tall  and  well-made,  but  does  not  impress  one  as 
especially  intellectual.  His  manner  is  self-possessed  and  brusque, 
and  he  seems,  even  when  practising  the  highest  courtesy,  like  a 
person  who  is  not  accustomed  to  contradiction  or  dissent.  He 
saluted  Mr.  Seward  first  in  the  Tartar  fashion,  by  taking  that 
gentleman's  arms  and  hands  into  his  own,  with  a  friendly  embrace. 
Our  learned  countryman.  Dr.  Martin,  who  acted  as  interpreter, 
mentioned  to  Mr.  Seward  that  this  treatment  was  in  striking  con- 
trast with  the  customary  Chinese  "touch-me-not"  form  of  salutation 
of  foreigners.  The  prince  then  earnestly  expressed  his  satisfaction 
in  the  accomplishment  of  a  wish  he  had  long  entertained,  to  see  the 


200  JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

face  of  his  distinguished  visitor.  Mr.  Seward  requested  him  to  sit, 
but  he  immediately  rose,  and  apologized  for  his  failure  in  keeping 
his  previous  appointment  at  the  foreign  office.  He  said  that  he 
had  been,  on  that  occasion,  seized  with  a  sudden  illness,  which  had 
entirely  disabled  him  from  business  for  many  days. 

Mk.  Seward  :  "  The  anxiety  I  felt  about  you  is  happily  relieved 
by  seeing  and  knowing  that  you  are  well  again." 

Peince  Kuxg  :  "  My  acquaintance  with  your  Excellency  began 
with  our  embassy  to  the  United  States  and  Europe,  and  I  have 
many  acknowledgments  to  make  for  the  kindness  and  assistance 
our  ministers  received  at  your  hands." 

Mpw  Sewakd  :  "  Not  at  all,  your  Highness.  Our  Government 
welcomed  that  embassy  as  a  harbinger  of  closer  and  more  friendly 
relations  between  the  United  States  and  China." 

Pkixce  Kung  :  "  The  relations  of  the  two  countries  have  always 
been  amicable.  I  trust  they  will  become  still  more  intimate  in 
future.  As  to  our  ministers  on  that  occasion,  their  instructions 
were,  to  put  themselves  very  much  under  the  directions  of  your 
Excellency." 

Mr.  Seward  :  "  On  the  arrival  of  the  embassy,  I  conferred  with 
them  concerning  the  objects  of  their  mission  and  their  powers.  I 
then  prepared  a  draught  of  a  treaty,  which  they  amended.  When 
the  draught,  as  amended,  had  been  approved  by  the  President,  I 
submitted  it  by  telegraph  to  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Germany. 
^Yhen  those  nations  had  signified  that  such  a  treaty  would  be  ac- 
ceptable to  them,  it  was  then  signed  by  your  ambassadors  and  by 
myself.     This  is  the  story  of  the  '  Burlingame  Treaty.'  " 

Prince  Kung  made  a  profound  bow,  and  exclaimed : 

"  What  a  pity  that  Mr.  Burlingame  was  cut  off  by  so  untimely 
a  fate,  leaving  his  work  unfinished  !  " 

Mr.  Seward  :  "  Mr.  Burlingame's  work  was  so  far  accomplished 
that  he  exerted  an  influence  which  will  never  cease  to  be  felt  in  the 
mutual  intercourse  of  China  and  the  Western  nations.  The  termi- 
nation at  any  time  of  a  life  which  had  already  become  so  successful 
and  so  useful,  cannot  be  called  premature." 

Prince  Kung  :    "  Ah !    if  others  would  adopt   the  principles 


CONVERSATION   WITH  PRINCE   KUNG.  201 

which  are  practised  by  your  Government,  it  would  be  a  great  ad- 
vantage to  us." 

Here,  at  Mr.  Low's  invitation,  the  party  took  seats  at  the  table — 
the  prince  at  the  left,  with  Mr,  Seward  next  his  Highness ;  Ysung- 
Lun,  senior  Minister  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Affairs,  on  his  right; 
next  to  hira,  Admiral  Eodgers.  Not  much  attention,  however,  was 
paid  to  the  elegant  repast.  The  conversation  was  immediately  re- 
sumed, and  continued  an  hour : 

Prince  Kung  :  "  How  many  are  your  venerable  years  ?  " 

Mr.  Sewaed  :  "  Sixty-nine.     May  I  ask  your  Highness's  age  ? " 

Prince  Kung  :  "  Thirty-five.  Are  you  now  in  the  exercise  of 
public  functions  ?  or  have  you  laid  down  the  cares  of  office,  while 
you  continue  to  wear  its  honors  ?  " 

Mr.  Seward  :  "  I  was  in  active  public  life  thirty  years.  I  have 
now  given  up  official  duties,  and  am  studying  in  the  way  of  foreign 
travel — " 

The  prince  did  not  wait  for  the  end  of  Mr.  Seward's  remark, 
but,  misapprehending  his  gesticulations,  said  : 

"  I  know,  without  an  interpreter,  what  you  are  speaking  about. 
It  is  your  painful  experience  in  your  conflict  with  the  Southern  re- 
bellion." 

At  Mr.  Seward's  request,  the  interpreter  told  the  prince  that  his 
guess  was  wide  of  the  mark,  and  then  gave  Mr.  Seward's  answer. 

"Nevertheless,"  said  the  prince,  "I  desire  to  hear  from  you 
about  the  rebellion,  and  especially  about  your  escape  from  assassi- 
nation, and  about  the  honorable  wounds  you  have  received,  the 
marks  of  which  you  still  wear." 

Mr.  Seward,  after  a  few  words  to  satisfy  the  prince's  curiosity 
on  that  subject,  brought  the  question  back  to  Chinese  politics : 

Mr.  Seward  :  "  Your  Highness,  is  it  the  intention  of  your 
Government  to  establish  permanent  missions  in  foreign  capitals  ? " 

Prince  Kung  :  "  By  all  means.  We  expect  to  have  perma- 
nent embassies,  and  we  expect  to  derive  great  benefit  from  them." 

Mr.  Seward  :  "  The  Japanese  Government  gave  me  a  letter, 
which  they  addressed  to  the  minister  whom  they  have  recently  sent 
to  China.     I  would  like  to  deliver  it." 


202  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

Pkince  Kung  :  "  He  has  not  yet  come." 

Mk.  Sewaed  :  "  Is  the  Anamite  Empire  still  tributary  to  China  ? " 

Peixce  Kung  :  "  It  still  continues  to  send  tribute." 

Mr.  Sewakd:  "And  does  Siani,  also?" 

Pklnce  Kung  :  "  The  Siamese  Government  sends  us  tribute 
once  in  five  years." 

Me.  Sewaed  :  "  What  is  the  diplomatic  rank  of  envoys  who 
come  to  you  from  Corea  ? " 

Pelnce  Kung  :  "  That  question  is  not  easily  answered.  The 
Coreans  have  grades  of  rank,  and  honors,  altogether  difterent  from 
our  own." 

Mr.  Sewaed  :  "  Are  the  tributes  which  you  receive  from  those 
countries  merely  ceremonial,  or  do  they  enter  into  the  revenues  of 
the  empire  ?  " 

Peince  Kung  :  "  We  act  on  the  maxim  that  the  envoys  of  de- 
pendent states  shall  come  to  us  lean,  and  go  out  from  us  fat.  They 
always  receive  greater  presents  than  they  bring." 

Mr.  Seward  :  "  The  King  of  Siam  once  sent  us  a  present  in 
regard  to  which  we  could  not  act  on  that  maxim.  It  was  a  white 
elephant." 

The  prince  took  out  his  watch  to  compare  his  time  with  that  of 
the  legation,  and  explained  that  there  is  no  standard  chronometer 
in  Peking. 

Admiral  Podgers  incpiired  whether  the  instruments  at  the 
observatory  are  no  longer  serviceable. 

Prince  Kung  :  "  Observations  are  still  made  there,  but  the 
instruments  are  somewhat  neglected,  and  they  have  become  obso- 
lete." 

Mr.  Seward  :  "  It  seems  so  desirable  that  the  sciences  of  the 
West  should  be  introduced  into  China  that  I  regret  to  learn  of  the 
difficulties  v^diich  tlie  university  projected  by  Wan-Siang  encoun- 
ters. I  trust  that  that  institution  will  revive  under  its  new  presi- 
dent, Dr.  Martin." 

Prince  Kung  :  "  It  was  with  that  hope  that  we  appointed  him, 
and  we  have  now  the  utmost  confidence  in  its  success.  It  is  bound 
to  succeed." 


INSCRIPTIONS  IN  THE  ALBUMS.  203 

Dr.  Martin,  in  Mr.  Seward's  name,  asked  tlie  prince  and  liis 
associates  to  write  their  names  in  the  ladies'  albums. 

The  prince  took  up  the  book,  and,  seeming  to  assume  that  it 
was  Mr.  Seward's  own,  wrote  these  words  : 

"  Having  already  attained  so  much  of  wealth  and  honor,  may  you  also 
attain  to  great  longevity !  " 

He  signed  this  in  the  Mantchoo  character — "  Kung-Chien- 
Wang." 

The  aged  Minister  Chin-Lun,  president  of  the  Board  of  Con- 
trol for  the  Colonies,  wrote  : 

"  May  mankind  enjoy  universal  peace !  " 

He  signed  this  both  in  the  Chinese  and  Mantchoo  characters. 

Tung-Tajen,  president  of  the  Board  of  Revenue,  before  re- 
ferred to  in  these  notes  as  a  poet,  wrote,  in  ancient  ornamental 
characters : 

"May  mild  winds  and  quiet  waves, 
Tranquil  seas  and  pleasant  rivers, 
Speed  you  on  your  voyage." 

Shen-Tajen,  member  of  the  Grand  Council  of  State,  next  took 
up  the  pencil,  and  wrote  : 

"May  the  clouds  give  you  lucky  omens, 
The  stars  assure  you  happiness  and  long  life, 
The  opening  flowers  presage  wealth  and  honors, 
And  the  bamhoo  tube  [the  mail-bag]  only 
And  always  bring  you  tidings  of  peace !  " 

Repeating  and  rehearsing  these  several  kindly  sentiments,  they 
rose,  took  the  hands  of  Mr.  Seward  and  the  admiral  into  their  own, 
bade  them  farewell,  and  retired. 

]Sfove7nber  2l5^. — General  Ylangally  again  entertained  us  w^ith  a 
breakfast  at  his  pleasant  legation. 


204  JAPAN,   CHINA,  AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

This  morning  four  mandarin  chairs  and  six  carts,  M-ith  an  un- 
usual retinue  of  coolies,  appeared  at  the  legation.  A  messenger 
delivered  to  Mr.  Seward  the  cards  of  the  several  Ministers  of  State, 
including  one  of  Wan-Siang,  together  with  a  present,  of  which  they 
left  the  following  inventory  : 

One  pair  of  vases. 

One  pair  of  enamelled  eagles. 

One  pair  of  double-enamelled  vases. 

One  pair  of  carved  scarlet  lacquer  boxes. 

One  pail'  of  enamelled  fish-jars. 

Eight  pieces  of  silk,  of  various  colors. 

Mr.  Seward  inquired  of  Mr.  Low  what  would  be  a  proper  form 
of  acknowledgment.  He  replied :  "  You  cannot  decline  the  present. 
You  can  only  send  your  card  in  return,  and  pay  a  Mexican  dollar 
to  each  coolie.  Less  than  this  you  would  be  unwilling  to  do.  It 
would  be  thought  disrespectful  to  do  more." 

The  American  and  British  missionaries,  residing  at  Peking, 
passed  the  afternoon  with  Mr.  Seward.  They  leave  on  the  minds 
of  our  whole  party  an  impression  that  they  are  earnest,  true,  and 
good  men  and  women.  The  labor  which  they  are  performing  in 
this  benighted  land  fully  justifies  the  Christian  charity  which  has 
sent  them  hither. 

Ever  since  we  came  here,  Mr.  Seward  and  Admiral  liodgers 
have  been  diligently  laboring  to  ascertain  the  feasibility  of  a  return 
of  our  party  by  way  of  the  Imperial  Canal.  The  Government  has 
caused  a  report  to  be  made  to  them  on  that  subject.  This  paper 
describes  many  breaches  of  the  canal,  but  represents  them  as  under- 
going repair.  The  Government  would  provide  for  our  security  in 
the  journey,  but  no  shorter  period  than  three  weeks  w^ould  sufiice 
to  make  it  in  boats,  while  there  would  be  many  and  long  land  port- 
ages. It  is  almost  certain  that,  within  that  time,  it  will  be  rendered 
impassable  by  ice.  Tlie  canal-voyage  is  therefore  given  up,  though 
not  without  much  reluctance. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  RETURN  TO   SHANGHAI 

Once  more  on  the  Pei-ho. — The  Ladies  at  Tien-Tsin. — The  Shan  Tung. — Pigeon  English. 
— Tempestuous  Weather. — Visit  to  the  Flag-ship  Colorado. — Departure  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Randall. — On  board  the  Plymouth  Rock. 

Tung-Chow,  November  22f?. — How  could  we  describe  in  writing 
the  parting  at  the  legation,  which  allowed  of  no  utterance ! 

Time,  it  seems,  is  not  money  in  junlv-navigation.  We  find  at 
Tung-Chow  that  our  flotilla  of  little  vessels,  without  a  word  of 
engagement  or  promise  on  our  part,  had  waited  nineteen  days.  It 
has  been  speedily  manned  and  victualled.  Its  sails  are  already 
spread,  our  flags  are  unfurled,  and  we  are  once  more  afloat  on  the 
Pei-ho.  The  weather  is  very  cold,  but  the  downward  voyage  to 
Tien-Tsin  requires  only  forty  hours. 

Tien-Tsin,  Wovemher  '2i^d. — Could  anybody  ask  a  safer  convoy 
on  a  river-voyage  than  a  rear  admiral  ?  Could  an^^body,  needing 
protection  on  such  a  voyage,  do  a  wiser  tiling  than  trust  such  a 
convoy  ? 

"  All's  well  that  ends  well ; "  but,  could  there  be  a  better  joke 
than  that  which  has  occurred  to  us,  under  the  practice  of  these  prin- 
ciples ?  Boat  No.  2,  bearing  the  two  ladies,  accidentally  separating 
from  the  fleet  during  the  night,  came  up  to  the  draw-bridge  at 
Tien-Tsin  this  morning,  not  only  two  hours  before  ISTo.  4  and  the 
other  boats,  but  even  three  hours  before  the  flag-ship  of  our  gallant 


206  JAPAl^,  CHINA,  AND  COCniN  CHINA. 

convoy.  There  is  not  only  a  time  for  every  thing  in  this  world, 
but  there  is  also  a  place  for  it ;  but,  for  those  timid  adventurers, 
those  two  hours  were  not  the  time ;  and  Tien-Tsin,  with  its  murky 
atmosphere,  stolid  crowds,  and  horrible  associations  of  massacre, 
was  certainly  not  the  place.  Fortunately,  the  oflScers  of  the  Ashue- 
lot  found  them,  opened  the  way  through  the  draw-bridge,  took  them 
on  board  their  ship,  and  seated  them,  shivering  as  they  were;  before 
a  fire  in  their  comfortable  cabin. 

The  deck  is  completely  enclosed  with  bunting — the  flags  of  all 
nations — and  is  prepared  for  a  ball  in  honor  of  our  arrival.  The 
same  considerations,  which  counselled  us  to  self-denial  on  our  up- 
ward way,  determined  us  to  forego  the  pleasing  compliment. 

Thanks  to  Mr.  Beebe,  of  the  house  of  Eussell  &  Company,  for 
the  welcome  and  comfortable  quarters,  which  we  so  much  needed, 
after  the  cold  river-voyage.  Thanks  for  his  pleasant  dinner,  and 
thanks  to  Mr.  Seward  and  good  Admiral  Rodgers  for  lowering  their 
voices  after  the  ladies  had  left  the  table,  and  to  the  whole  party  for 
treading  so  lightly  as  they  retired  for  the  night.  Thanks,  more 
fervent  than  all  others,  to  the  lucky  star  which  has  brought  our 
nice,  little,  rolling  Shan  Tung,  and  her  spirited  Yankee  Captain 
Hawes,  back  from  Shanghai,  just  in  time  to  meet  us  here  and  con- 
vey us  to  that  destination.  Our  last  voyage  on  the  Yellow  Sea,  and 
her  last  voyage  for  the  season. 

Taku,  Noveniber  '^Uh. — On  board  the  Shan  Tung,  waiting  to 
cross  the  bar.  Would  anybody  care  to  have  an  explanation  of 
what  is  called  "  pigeon-English  ? "  To  the  visitor,  on  his  arrival 
here,  it  seems  an  unnecessary  and  puerile  affectation.  But  this  is  a 
mistake,  l^ative  agents,  servants,  and  factors,  must  be  employed. 
They  do  not  understand  any  foreign  language,  and  foreign  residents 
cannot  learn  Chinese.  A  dialect  is  needed  for  mutual  communica- 
tion, but  it  may  be  limited  to  the  wants  of  commerce  and  service. 

As  "  charity  shall  cover  a  multitude  of  sins,"  so  in  this  dialect, 
one  English  word  is  made  to  cover  a  variety  of  things.  "  Pigeon," 
to  the  Chinese  ear,  means,  not  the  dove,  but  "  business."  "  Pigeon- 
English,"    therefore,   means   '"  business-English."     A  few  generic 


ON  THE   YELLOW  SEA.  20T 

names,  without  number,  gender,  or  case,  and  a  verj  few  active  and 
auxiliary  verbs,  without  variation  of  mood  or  tense,  constitute  the 
whole  vocabulary.  "  Will  this  horse  kick  ? "  In  pigeon-English, 
"  Horse  make  kick  ? "  "  Ask  the  consul  to  come  here."  In  pigeon- 
English  it  is,  "  Catchee  consul,  bring  come  this  side."  Keport,  in 
pigeon-English,  "  No  can  catchee  consul."  "  Bring  the  breakfast, 
quickly," — "  Catchee  chow-chow,  chop-chop." 

A  similar  invention,  though  not  so  well  perfected,  is  adapted  to 
facilitate  intercourse  between  foreigners  and  natives  in  all  newly- 
discovered  regions.  The  Indian  tribes,  on  the  North-American 
Pacific  coast,  have  a  common  jargon  made  up  of  only  two  hundred 
words,  a  mixture  of  English,  French,  Spanish,  Indian,  etc.  The 
lingua  franca  of  the  Mediterranean,  a  jumble  of  French,  Arabic, 
Turkish,  and  Italian,  is  another  such  dialect.  "  Pigeon-English  "  is 
now  regularly  taught  in  Chinese  schools.  Since  it  is  capable  of  in- 
definite expansion,  who  shall  say  that,  in  the  progress  of  time,  a 
complete  language  may  not  be  built  upon  that  narrow  foundation  ? 

Yellow  Sea^  off  Shan  Tung  Promontory,  November  '2,^th. — The 
Gulf  Pe-chee-lee  is  a  vixen,  and  the  Shan  Tung,  in  a  gale,  is  a  nui- 
sance. Although  the  morning  was  soft  and  genial  when  we  left 
Taku,  the  sky  darkened  at  ten,  and  in  two  hours  we  were  rolling 
and  pitching  under  a  severe  nor'easter.  Unable  to  land  at  Che- 
Foo,  we  anchored  for  the  night  at  Hope  Sound.  Resuming  our 
voyage,  we  arrived,  at  six  the  next  morning,  in  the  harbor  of  Che- 
Foo.  But  a  hio-h  sea  would  not  allow  us  to  disembark.  The 
weather  has  been  intensely  cold  as  well  as  tempestuous  for  two 
days  and  nights,  and  there  has  been  no  rest  or  comfort.  At  two 
o'clock  yesterday  afternoon,  finding  a  smooth  nook  on  the  lee 
shore,  we  came  to  anchor  again,  to  afford,  not  passengers,  but  the 
exhausted  seamen,  a  night  of  rest.  The  storm  has  abated,  and  we. 
are  now  making  rapid  headway. 

Shanghai,  Woveinber  SOth. — W"hy  take  pains  to  say  what  every- 
body may  imagine — that  we  have  come  back  to  Shanghai  weary, 
or  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  "Warden  seem  even  kinder  than  before,  or  that 


208  JAPAX,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

"William  Freeman  has  laid  in  a  stock  of  "pigeon-English"  which 
he  thinks  will  enable  us  to  dismiss  our  Chinese  servants,  or  that 
Admiral  Rodgers  has  determined  that  the  Colorado  shall  no  longer 
be  denied  the  pleasure  of  entertaining  us,  or  that  Mr.  Seward  has 
pacified  impatient  friends  and  countrymen  by  contradicting  rumors 
which  came  before  us — that  the  Chinese  Government  has  organized 
an  army  for  immediate  war,  and  that  Prince  Kung  refused  to  re- 
ceive or  meet  Mr.  Seward  in  any  way  2 

December  Zth. — Yesterday,  Mr.  Seward,  attended  by  many 
friends,  visited  the  admiral's  flag-ship.  Arriving  in  the  harbor 
of  Woo-Sung,  we  proposed  to  go  directly  from  our  little  yacht 
on  board  the  Colorado.  No  such  hasty  proceeding  as  this,  how- 
ever, could  be  allowed.  The  whole  ship  made  gorgeous  display 
of  national  colors.  The  staff-officers,  in  brilliant  uniforms,  were 
afloat  in  her  steam-launch,  and  other  boats  awaiting  us.  Seamen 
and  marines  were  ranged  on  the  deck.  Six  hundred  ofiicers  and 
men,  in  regulation  attire,  were  drawn  up  in  line.  Our  now 
familiar  acquaintances,  the  band,  with  their  brass  instruments 
blazing  in  the  burning  sun,  stood  on  the  quarter-deck;  and  in 
front  of  them  all  was  the  admiral,  tall,  erect,  and  commanding. 
He  waved  us  a  cordial  and  graceful  welcome.  The  staff"  came 
alongside,  and  informed  us  of  the  admiral's  request  that  Mr.  Sew- 
ard would  remain  on  the  yacht  until  the  party  should  have  been 
conveyed  by  the  launches  to  the  Colorado. 

And  so  it  was  done.  "When  the  party  had  been  assigned  proper 
places,  Mr.  Seward,  coming  over  the  bulwarks,  was  received  by  the 
admiral ;  the  marines  presented  arms,  the  seamen  saluted,  the  guns 
poured  forth  a  salvo,  and  the  band  played  "  Hail  to  the  Chief! " 

The  officers  were  then  severally  presented  to  Mr.  Seward.  Then 
followed  an  inspection  of  the  ship,  which  displayed  the  usual  good 
order  of  an  American  man-of-war.  A  feast  was  spread  in  the 
cabins,  to  which  we  all  sat  down.  The  band  continued  playing 
until  the  last  guest  retired  from  the  table. 

In  taste  for  articles  of  viHu,  the  admiral  rivals  his  professional 
confrere^  the  Duke   of  Edinburgh.      Here  we  note,  by  way  of 


THE  PLYITOUTH  ROCK.  209 

pnrenthesis,  in  China,  whic]i  is  tlie  country  of  porcelain,  that  his 
"Wedgwood  ware  is  the  finest  in  the  world. 

A  voyage  under  the  soft  moonlight  brought  us  to  the  compound 
at  two  o'clock. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Randall,  greatly  to  our  regret,  being  recalled 
home,  we  part  with  them  here.' 

Shanghai^  Deceinber  ^Uh. — ^We  are  preparing  for  an  excursion 
on  the  Yano;-tse-kiano^.  The  admiral  and  officers  took  final  leave  of 
us  to-day.  After  a  pleasant  dinner  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fraser,  we 
repaired,  at  eleven  o'clock,  on  board  the  steamer  Plymouth  Kock. 

On  l)oard  the  Plymouth  Rock,  Decemher  Sth. — After  all,  there 
is  somethino;  in  a  name.  Plvmouth  Rock,  a  name  identified  with 
the  civilization  of  America,  now  employed  to  signalize  an  American 
regeneration  of  China  ! 

Laboulaye  has  written  an  ingenious  book  describing  Paris  in 
America.  Why  shall  w^e  not,  in  ours,  illustrate  the  United  States 
in  China  ?  The  Plymouth  Rock  was  built  in  our  own  country,  and 
is  owned,  managed,  and  sailed,  by  our  countrymen.  Such  a  prom- 
enade-deck can  be  found  on  the  great  rivers  and  lakes  at  home ; 
but  such  a  cabin,  such  a  table,  such  baths,  and  such  beds,  can  be 
found  nowhere.  We  knew,  when  we  looked  about  this  morning, 
that  no  Chinese  steward,  nor  maid-servant,  if  there  be  any  such, 
nor  any  American  or  European  steward  or  stewardess,  had  ar- 
ranged these  homelike  comforts.  Though  we  saw  no  woman,  we 
knew,  not  only  that  a  woman  had  been  here,  but  that  she  lives  here. 
The  captain's  wife,  Mrs.  Simmons,  is  absent  for  only  a  day  or  two. 

The  Hudson  and  the  Mississippi  are  the  only  rivers  in  the  world 
where  steamers  carry  as  heavy  freights  as  on  the  Yang-tsekiang. 
If  the  monopoly  of  this  navigation  by  our  countrymen  serves  to  ex- 
tend our  national  influence  in  China,  it  at  the  same  time  illustrates 
the  absurdity  of  the  fear  that  the  Chinese  interest  will  become  an 
intrusive  or  dangerous  element  in  the  United  States. 


O" 


^  Atiburn,  July  26,  1872. — We  record  with  deep  sorrow  the  death  of  Mr.  Randall. 
He  closed  a  life  of  eminent  public  service  and  private  virtue,  at  his  residence  in  Elmira, 
yesterday,  after  his  return  to  that  place  from  a  visit  to  Mr.  Seward,  hepe. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

UP   THE  YANG-TSE-KIANG. 

The  Mississippi  of  China. — Ching-Kiang. — Large  Freights. — Nanking. — The  Porcelain 
Tower. — A  Specimen  Brick. — Abundance  of  Game. — Scenery  on  the  River. — Ku- 
Kiang. — Conversation  with  Mr.  Drew. — Policy  of  the  United  States. — Han-Kow. — 
Ascent  of  the  Promontory. — Magnificent  View. — Cheerful  Aspect  of  Han-Kow. — 
Excursion  to  Woo-Chang. — A  Disagreeable  Adventure. 

Decemher  9tk. — The  Yang-tse-kiang  has  its  sources  in  the  moim- 
tains  of  Thibet,  side  by  side  with  those  of  rivers  wliich  flow  through 
Siam,  Burmah,  and  Hindostan,  into  the  Bay  of  Bengal.  In  reach- 
ing the  Pacific,  it  traverses  the  central  region  of  China,  a  distance 
of  nineteen  hundred  miles,  which  the  sinuosities  of  its  course 
lengthen  to  three  thousand  miles.  Though  this  navigation  may 
not  be  longer  than  that  of  the  Mississippi  Piver,  extended  by  the 
Missouri  River,  the  Yang-tse-hiang  greatly  surpasses  the  great 
American  river  in  depth,  breadth,  and  volume.  Often,  in  its 
course,  it  spreads  into  broad  bays  or  lakes,  and,  losing  its  own 
name,  takes  on  local  ones,  just  as  the  mighty  St.  Lawrence  does. 

In  a  distance  of  eighty  miles  from  the  sea,  the  river  gradually 
shrinks  from  a  breadth  of  some  thirty  miles  to  that  of  one  mile — 
the  banks  level,  densely  inhabited,  and  perfectly  cultivated. 

At  midnight  we  fastened  at  the  wharf  of  Ching-Kiang,  the 
southern  terminus  of  the  Imperial  Canal.  This  populous  and 
important  town  was  nearly  destroyed  during  the  Ta-ping  rebel- 
lion. The  mercury  had  gone  down  to  twenty-eight  degrees.  A 
heavy  dew  was  falling.     It  was  no  time  to  go  ashore.     Our  captain 


THE   CITY  OF   NANKING. 


211 


left  on  the  wharf  three  thousand  boxes  and  bales  of  merchandise, 
consisting  of  sugars  from  Southern  China,  and  British  manufac- 
tured goods  and  opium  from  India — a  large  freight,  considering 
that  the  steamer  is  one  of  a  daily  line,  and  that  the  river  is  at 
every  point  crowded  with  junks.  It  looks  quite  like  home  to  see 
the  numerous  and  immense  timber-rafts  floating  down  from  native 
forests  in  Thibet. 

What  product  does  China  need  to  make  herself  self-sustaining  ? 

The  banks  above  Ching-Kiang  rise  to  a  height  of  one  thousand 
feet.  Nanking,  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  is  in  an  amphitheatre 
formed  by  those  hills.    This  city  has  historical  interest  as  the  capital 


BEIDGE  AT   NANKING.    AN^D   POBCELAHf  TOWBE  BEFOKE   ITS   DESTEtTCTION. 


of  the  empire  before  the  conquest  of  Kublai-Khan  ;  afterward  it 
was  occasionally  the  residence  of  the  Ming  emperors.  N'anking 
became  famous,  still  later,  as  a  commercial  centre,  and  remained  so 


17 


212  JAPAN,   CHINA,    AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

t 

until  the  period  of  steam-navigation.  Last  of  all,  it  became  mem- 
orable as  the  vantage-groimd  from  which  the  Ta-ping  insm-gents 
carried  the  civil  war  to  the  walls  of  Peking.  The  pagoda  called 
the  Porcelain  Tower,  which,  with  its  nine  successive  roofs  of  seem- 
ing emerald,  and  the  golden  apple  on  its  summit,  at  that  time 
looked  upon  Nanking,  was  justly  admired,  not  only  as  a  chief  em- 
bellishment of  the  great  city,  but  as  one  of  the  wonders  of  the 
world.  But  all  this  glory  has  passed  away.  The  Ta-ping  rebel- 
lion, which  ended  only  in  1864,  proved  destructive  to  Xanking. 

It  seems  almost  enough  to  excuse  the  dread  which  all  nations 
feel  for  civil  war,  when  we  contemplate  the  devastation  which  it 
invariably  produces.  Xanking,  within  its  fifteen  miles  of  dilapi- 
dated wall,  is  little  else  than  a  desolation.  The  Porcelain  Tower  is 
only  recognized  by  its  debris.  The  port  is  not  open  to  foreign 
commerce,  but  the  Government  permits  steamers  to  receive  and 
land  passengers.  A  friend  who  came  on  board  presented  us  with 
a  large  brick  which  he  has  taken  from  the  ruined  pagoda.  Mr. 
Seward,  thanking  him  for  it,  said  : 

"  One  of  the  minor  Greek  poets  ridicules  as  a  simpleton  a  man 
who,  having  a  house  to  sell,  went  about  showing  one  of  its  bricks 
as  a  sample  ;  but,  insomuch  as  the  Porcelain  Tower  is  gone,  I  am 
thankful  for  a  relic  of  it." 

Game  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  the  country.  On  the  river  it  is 
over  your  head  and  under  your  feet — everywhere.  You  may  buy 
a  dozen  pheasants,  ducks,  or  snipe,  for  less  than  the  price  of  a  pair 
of  fowls  in  Washington  Market.  You  pay  less  for  wild-boar,  veni- 
son, or  hare,  than  for  veal  or  mutton  at  home.  Do  these  wild  ani- 
mals affect  the  society  of  semi-barbarian  man,  or  is  the  abundance 
here  due  to  the  great  productiveness  of  the  soil  ? 

December  lOih. — Two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  above  Nanking, 
the  river  flows  swiftly  through  a  narrow  gorge  between  two  moun- 
tains, one  called  the  Eastern,  the  other  the  Western  Pillar.  Above 
this  strait  the  river  winds,  and  is  flanked  on  the  right  bank  by 
bluff's  like  those  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri ;  a  hundred  miles 
higher,  another  gorge ;  near  the  left  bank,  a  conical  islet,  four  hun- 


0 
< 

I 

u 

H 

I 

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u 

Q, 
Q. 
D 

X 
H 


LITTLE   ORPHAN  ISLAND. 


213 


dred  feet  high,  rocky  at  the  base,  but  smiling  with  vegetation  at 
the  top,  the  sides  indented  with  winding  terraces  bordered  with 
Buddhist  cloisters,  on  the  summit  a  picturesque  pagoda.  The  rock 
is  named,  in  the  chart,  "  Little  Orphan."  Opposite  it  is  the  pretty 
little  town  of  Tung-Lu,  with  a  picturesque  wall  winding  over  the 
undulating  mountain-crest.     Here  the  river  receives  the  water  of 


LmXB  ORPHAN  ISLAND. 


the  Po-yang,  a  lake  with  a  circuit  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles, 
which,  in  some  seasons,  is  enlarged  to  an  area  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  by  the  overflow  of  the  river. 

Four  hundred  miles  from  the  sea,  the  river  has  narrowed  to  half 
a  mile.  The  banks  on  either  side  are  crowded  with  villages ;  the 
depth,  at  this  season  of  low  water,  twenty-five  feet ;  swollen  by  the 


214  JAPAN,    CHINA,    AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

winter  floods,  it  is  sixtj.  Fartlier  upward,  villages  are  less  con- 
spicuous; but  temples  and  pagodas,  at  picturesque  points,  break 
the  monotony.  One  of  these  pagodas  is  a  hundred  feet  high ;  all 
are  dedicated  to  the  gods  of  the  Winds  and  the  "Waves. 

At  sunset  we  came  to  Ku-Kiang,  a  port  open  to  commerce,  on 
the  south  side  of  the  river.  The  foreign  settlement,  though  small, 
is  well  arranged  and  conducted;  the  Chinese  city  is  contracted 
and  meanly  built,  but  busy.  Mr.  Rose,  of  the  house  of  Eussell 
&  Co.,  and  Mr.  Drew,  deputy  Chinese  revenue  commissioner, 
received  us. 

Each  of  the  treaty  powers  nominates  to  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment a  certain  number  of  persons  to  serve  as  such  deputies,  under 
the  superintendence  of  the  inspector-general,  Mr.  Hart.  These 
deputies  are  expected  to  learn  the  Chinese  language,  laws,  and  cus- 
toms. Mr.  Drew  is  an  American.  While  walking  in  the  Bund, 
he  lamented  to  Mr.  Seward  that  British  prestige  in  China  prevails 
over  that  of  the  United  States : 

Mk.  Sewaed  :  "  To  what  do  you  attribute  this  advantage  ?  " 

]\Ie.  Dkew:  "  To  the  superior  policy  pursued  by  Great  Britain. 
That  nation,  as  well  as  France,  maintains  a  habit  of  demonstration 
and  menace;  the  United  States  a  policy  of  forbearance  and  con- 
ciliation." 

Me.  Seward  :  "  These  sentiments  of  yours  harmonize  with 
those  of  most  of  our  countrymen  whom  I  have  met  in  China. 
How  many  foreigners  of  all  nations  have  you  in  Ku-Kiang  ?  " 

Mr.  Drew  :  "  Twenty-five." 

Mr.  Sewaed  :  "  How  many  of  these  are  Americans  ?  " 

Mr.  Drew  :  "  Two  or  three." 

Mr.  Sewaed  :  "  The  others,  I  suppose,  are  British  and  French, 
with  perhaps  a  German  or  two  ?  " 

Mr.  Drew  :  "  Yes." 

Mr.  Sev^aed  :  "  I  understand  that,  while  the  foreign  popula- 
tion at  Shanghai  is  two  thousand  five  hundred,  only  fifty  or  sixty 
of  these  are  Americans  ?  " 

Mr.  Drew  :  "  Yes." 

Mr.  Sewaed  :  "  Have  you  observed  that  Great  Britain,  France, 


POLICY  OF   THE   FOTTED   STATES.  215 

and  Russia,  maintain  in  China  diplomatic,  consular,  military,  and 
naval  agents,  in  numbers-  as  far  exceeding  those  of  the  United 
States  as  their  national  population  resident  here  exceeds  that  of 
citizens  from  the  United  States  ?  In  short,  most  of  the  Americans 
residing  in  China  are  missionaries,  are  they  not  ? " 

Me.  Deew  :  "  Yes." 

Mr.  Sewakd  :  "  Is  it  your  opinion  that  there  would  have  been 
in  China,  to-day,  any  more  American  citizens  than  there  are  now, 
if  the  United  States  had  heretofore  either  waged  war  against  China 
or  menaced  her  in  any  way  ?  " 

Me.  Deew:  "No." 

!Me.  Sewaed  :  "  You  have  been  here  many  years.  Do  you 
know  of  any  outrage,  or  injury,  or  wrong,  that  the  United  States 
have  ever  complained  of,  that  the  Chinese  Government  has  left  un- 
redressed ? " 

Me.  Deew  :  "  I  know  of  none." 

Me.  Sewaed  :  "  Has  Great  Britain  or  France  secured  to  her- 
self in  China  any  political  or  commercial  benefit  or  advantage 
which  the  Chinese  Government  has  not  equally  extended,  by 
treaty,  to  the  United  States  ?  " 

Me.  Deew  :  "  Xo." 

Me.  Sewaed  :  "  The  complaints  of  the  superiority  of  British 
and  French  prestige  over  that  of  the  United  States  in  China  are 
of  recent  growth.  They  arose  chiefly  in  the  period  of  our  late 
civil  war.  You  know  little  of  the  herculean  difficulties  of  the 
Government  in  that  conflict.  Do  you  think  that  the  United  States 
Government,  under  the  administration  of  Abraham  Lincoln  or  of 
Andrew  Johnson,  could  have  wisely  made  war,  or  demonstration 
of  war,  against  China  ?  " 

Me.  Deew  :  "  No." 

Me.  Sewaed  :  "  Do  you  think  that  the  United  States  ought  to 
provoke  China  by  any  act  of  injustice  or  wrong?  Do  you  think 
that  it  would  be  wise  for  the  United  States,  without  provocation,  to 
resort  to  any  policy  of  menace  or  intimidation?  Do  you  think 
that  the  American  people  would  support  an  administration  in  such 
a  policy  of  provocation  or  menace,  now  while  they  are  submitting 


216  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

to  such  higli  taxation  to  discliarge  tlie  national  debt  incurred  in  a 
civil  war  ? " 

Mr.  Drew  :  ''  I  think  they  would  not." 

Mb.  Seward  :  "  One  question  more.  If  the  United  States,  dur- 
ing the  last  twenty  years,  had  pursued  a  policy  of  intimidation 
toward  China,  do  you  think  that  they  would  have  been  able,  at  the 
same  time,  to  draw  from  this  empire  an  emigration  of  seventy-live 
thousand  laborers  to  build  the  Pacific  Railroad,  and  open  the  mines 
in  the  Rocky  Mountains  ? " 

Me.  Drew  :  "  I  have  not  thought  of  that  before." 

Mr.  Seward  :  "  Well,  Mr.  Drew,  I  think  we  are  obliged  to  con- 
clude from  all  these  premises  that  a  policy  of  justice,  moderation, 
and  friendshif),  is  the  only  one  that  we  have  had  a  choice  to  pursue, 
and  that  it  has  been  as  wise  as  it  has  been  unavoidable." 

It  is  due  to  Mr.  Drew  to  say  that  he  had  received  his  appoint- 
ment to  his  present  place  from  Mr.  Seward  as  Secretary  of  State, 
and  that  he  presented  the  subject  to  that  gentleman  chiefly  for  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  how  far  he  had  found  cause  to  sympathize, 
during  his  sojourn  here,  with  the  complaints  of  our  countrymen. 

Mr.  Seward  closed  the  conversation  by  saying :  "  The  United 
States  are  a  republic,  an  aggregation  of  thirty-seven  republics.  Of 
the  thirty-nine  millions,  which  constitute  the  American  people,  less 
than  ten  thousand  dwell  in  foreign  countries,  and  a  smaller  propor- 
tion in  China  than  in  many  other  countries.  The  United  States 
cannot  be  an  aggressive  nation — least  of  all  can  they  be  aggressive 
against  China." 

"We  reached  the  steamer  and  the  end  of  the  discussion  at  the 
same  moment.     This  was  our  visit  at  Ku-Kiang. 

Han-Kow,  Sunday,  December  11th. — At  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  this  blessed  Sunday,  our  steamer  forces  her  way  to  the 
wharf  through  a  fleet  of  a  thousand  Chinese  vessels.  These  vessels 
are  coastwise  junks,  river-trading  junks,  market-junks,  fishing-junlcs, 
passage-junks,  stationary  storehouse-junks,  dwelling-jimks,  and  tav- 
ern-junks. So,  after  a  travel  of  four  months  and  two  days,  we 
have  reached  the  centre  of  China.     The  Han,  a  large  tributary,  is 


CITY  OF  HAN-KOW.  217 

to  the  Yang-tse  what  the  Missouri  is  to  the  Mississippi.  The  con- 
fluence of  the  two  rivers  makes  the  site  for  three  large  cities.  Two 
of  these,  Han-Kow  and  Han-Yan,  are  on  the  opposite  banks  of  the 
Han.  AVu-Chang  is  on  the  Yang-tse,  opposite  the  confluence  of  the 
two  rivers.  Practically,  the  three  constitute  one  city.  The  foreign 
settlement,  however,  is  established  at  Han-Kow. 

Marco  Polo,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  found,  in  Central  China, 
a  city  on  the  Yang-tse,  which  he  reported  by  the  name  of  Kiu-sai. 
He  estimated  its  circuit  at  a  hundred  Chinese  miles.  This  is  the 
city  in  which  we  now  are.  The  good  Abbe  Hue,  who  sojourned 
here  before  the  dark  days  of  European  invasion  and  domestic  rebel- 
lion, estimated  the  population  of  the  city  at  eight  millions.  While 
the  European  residents  say  that  the  abbe  exaggerates,  they  insist 
that  the  present  population  exceeds  one  million.  The  site  of  Han- 
Kow  may  be  compared  to  that  of  St.  Louis.  Through  the  attenu- 
ated tributaries  of  the  Yang-tse,  Han-Kow  gathers  up  agricultural, 
mineral,  forest,  and  manufactured  products,  from  the  western  re- 
gions of  the  empire,  and  distributes  them  by  domestic  and  foreign 
exchange  through  the  ports  of  Tien-Tsin,  Shanghai,  and  Canton. 
When  one  has  reached  this  commanding  point,  it  is  easily  con- 
ceived why  it  is  that  Shanghai,  at  the  mouth,  is  so  rapidly  en- 
grossing the  commerce  of  the  empire. 

The  port  of  Han-Kow  was  opened  in  1861.  The  Concession  is 
beautifully  laid  out,  and  built  up  in  a  rich  and  costly  style.  It  is 
spacious  enough  for  ten  thousand  inhabitants,  while  the  present 
number  of  foreigners  is  only  fifty.  There  are  six  foreign  houses, 
one  of  which  is  American.  The  high  expectations  of  increase  have 
been  disappointed,  not  because  the  trade  was  misestimated,  nor  yet 
because  it  has  failed,  but,  strange  to  say,  only  for  the  reason  that 
the  native  merchants  have  learned  the  respective  wants  of  foreign 
markets,  and  the  ways  of  supplying  them.  They  are  now,  them- 
selves, enjoying  the  advantages  which  the  European  merchants  have 
aimed  to  secure. 

JSfoon. — We  live  on  shipboard,  but  we,  nevertheless,  are  enjoy- 
ing the  hospitalities  of  Mr.  Fitz,  at  the  house  of  Russell  &  Company. 


218  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

We  attended  service,  this  morning,  at  the  Cliapel  of  St.  John  the 
Evangehst.  It  was  built  for  the  Church  of  England,  but,  having  lost 
its  Government  stipend,  the  congregation  is  unable  to  support  a 
pastor.  Prayers  were  read  by  a  AYesleyan  missionary,  an  amateur 
choir  singing  the  beautiful  chants  and  hymns  in  an  admirable 
manner. 

December  12th. — In  our  exploration,  yesterday  afternoon,  we 
found  that,  although  "  some  things  can  be  done  as  well  as  others," 
there  is,  nevertheless,  a  "right  way  and  wrong  way"  of  doing 
them. 

Mr.  Fitz  inquired  whether  we  would  have  chairs  sent  forward 
for  our  ascent  of  the  promontory,  at  the  junction  of  the  two  rivers. 
The  arguments  against  it  were,  that  most  persons  prefer  walking  to 
the  hazard  of  being  carried  up  the  steep  hill  by  coolies.  Mr.  Sew- 
ard advised  that  chairs  should  be  sent,  to  be  used  as  we  should  find 
need.  The  younger  people  promptly  decided  for  themselves  to  dis- 
pense with  the  luxury.  We  went  up  the  river  to  the  base  of  the 
promontory  in  a  row-boat  {sam-pan).  Thence  we  made  our  way, 
through  a  dirty  and  crowded  suburb,  up  a  flight  of  five  hundred 
stone  steps.  At  this  elevation,  we  found  neither  platform,  bench, 
nor  stone,  to  rest  on,  but  only  another  flight  of  two  thousand  stone 
steps  before  us,  with  an  inclination  of  forty -five  degrees.  Mr.  Sew- 
ard took  the  chair  which  he  had  so  thoughtfully  provided  for  him- 
self, and,  though  his  ascent  seemed  frightful  to  us,  he  was  borne 
quickly  and  safely  to  the  top  by  two  coolies,  who  neither  stumbled 
nor  stopped  to  rest.  The  other  members  of  the  party  followed 
slowly,  and  reached  the  summit  completely  exhausted.  Here,  we 
availed  ourselves  of  the  restoratives  of  tea  and  rest,  in  a  dingy 
Buddhist  temple.  We  might  confess  now  that  the  view  which 
presented  itself  amply  rewarded  the  painful  efibrts  by  which  it  was 
obtained,  if  we  could  be  quite  sure  that  we  should  recover,  in  many 
months,  the  muscular  strength  expended.  On  our  right  hand,  the 
Yang-tse,  a  mile  wide,  flowed  with  rapid  current ;  on  our  left  was 
the  Han,  scarcely  eighty  feet  broad,  though  its  springs  are  a  thou- 
sand miles  distant.    The  city  of  Han-Kow  covers  the  banks  of  both 


ASPECT   OF   HAN-KOW.  219 

rivers  at  tlieir  junction ;  behind  it  spreads  a  vast,  low,  green  marsh, 
every  year  inundated,  and  often  forcing  the  inhabitants  to  take 
refuge  in  boats.  At  the  base  of  tlie  promontory  on  which  we  stand, 
looking  down  the  river,  is  the  fresh-looking  little  city  of  Han-Yan, 
enclosed  in  a  neat  though  not  formidable  stone-wall ;  and,  on  the 
opposite  bank  of  the  Yang-tse,  crowded  with  pagodas,  palaces,  tem- 
ples, universities,  dwellings,  barracks,  and  camps,  is  Wu-chang, 
capital  of  the  province  of  Hu-peh.  A  thin,  blue  haze  limits  the 
prospect  to  an  horizon  in  which  a  small  and  lovely  lake  flows  at  the 
base  of  gently-undulating  hills. 

In  contrast  with  other  Chinese  cities,  Han-Kow,  including  the 
three  towns,  wears  a  cheerful  aspect.  The  streets  are  regular,  and 
the  dwellings,  of  stone  or  adobe,  are  whitened  with  paint  or  lime. 
From  our  commanding  position  we  made  an  efibrt  to  secure  a  care- 
ful estimate  of  the  population.  Our  conclusion  w^as,  that  the  num- 
ber of  the  inhabitants  on  land  within  the  three  cities  is  one  million. 
But  this  estimate  left  us  all  afloat  as  to  the  mass  of  the  dwellers  on 
the  water.  It  would  be  as  easy  to  look  from  the  high-road  on  the 
Owasco  Hills  into  the  beech  and  maple  forests,  that  border  it  on 
either  side,  and  count  the  trees,  as  it  would  be  here  to  number  the 
vessels  of  all  sizes  which  throw  a  dark  shade  across  the  narrow 
channel  of  the  Han,  and  over  the  left  bank  of  the  Yang-tse.  We 
venture  to  set  down  the  population  afloat  at  a  hundred  thousand. 
"Who  will  correct  our  estimate  ? 

We  were  to  dine  with  Mr.  Fitz  at  seven  o'clock,  but  his  house 
in  the  Bund  is  sixty  feet  above  the  river.  The  young  people  who 
had  so  bravely  stormed  the  promontory  were  only  able  on  their 
return  to  climb  from  the  sam-pan  to  the  steamer.  Mr.  Seward 
carried  with  him  their  reluctant  apologies. 

Deceniber  12th,,  evening. — An  excursion  to  Wu-chang.  Sitting 
in  our  sam-pan,  we  fortunately  became  spectators  of  a  theatrical 
entertainment  on  the  bank  of  the  river  in  Han-Kow.  We  estimated 
the  audience  at  four  thousand, without  seats.  Standing  in  rows, 
one  rising  above  another  on  the  steep  declivity,  they  presented 
unbroken  lines  of  blue  nankeen,  yellow  faces,  and  shaven  heads. 


220 


JAPAX,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 


The  stage  was  without  change  of  scene,  or  scenery  of  any  kind. 
There  was  no  orchestra,  but  frequent  rattling  of  gongs  and  drums 
on  the  stage.  The  performers  were  brilliantly  dressed  in  yellow 
and  red.  So  far  as  we  could  see,  there  was  no  breaking  up  of  the 
performance  for  time  or  place.  The  whole  ran  on  without  pause. 
The  actors  gesticulated  much  and  grotesquely,  but  they  drew  out 


yX^'^^^S^ 


i,|'!iiin',i;iiviff'™vilii^'jjnfl";!  i  mil  iiiiiiii  iiii 


CHINESE   THEATRICALS. 


from  the  patient  and  delighted  audience  not  one  sign  of  applause. 
We  distinguished  frequent  battles  and  dances  in  the  play,  but  the 
dialogue  was  lost  in  the  distance.  After  looking  on  for  half  an 
hour,  we  continued  our  excursion.  When  we  retui-ned  three  hours 
afterward,  we  found  the  performance  still  going  on,  with  no  per- 
ceptible change  in  either  the  actors  or  the  audience. 


CHINESE  BEGGARS.  221 

Landing  at  Wu-cliang,  we  ascended  a  promontory  wliicli  divides 
the  city  into  two  equal  parts.  A  briglit  and  variegated  pagoda, 
called  the  "  Little  Stork,"  graces  the  hill  above  the  landing-place. 
Its  story,  though  modern,  is  characteristic :  a  little  golden  god  took 
it  into  his  head  one  nio:ht  to  ride  a  snow-white  stork  into  the  cham- 
ber  of  the  dreaming  Taou-tai  of  the  province,  and  demanded  of 
him  the  erection  of  a  pagoda  in  this  place.  The  Taou-tai  said,  "  I 
hear  and  obey,"  and,  when  he  wakened,  "he  went  and  did  it." 
We  climbed  the  winding  staircase  of  this  pagoda.  Cakes,  tea,  and 
confectionery  are  served,  fortunes  told,  and  "  curios"  sold  in  eveiy 
story.  In  the  upper  one  is  a  statue  of  a  little  god,  about  five  feet 
high,  with  long,  slender  eyes,  smooth  black  queue,  black,  waxed 
mustache,  and  tunic  of  blue  and  gold.  He  smiles  complacently  as 
he  sits  on  the  back  of  a  stork,  carved  in  wood  and  painted  white. 
To  speak  the  truth,  he  is  a  merry  little  god — the  only  one  of  that 
aspect  we  have  met.  Leaving  the  pagoda,  we  passed  through  the 
court  of  a  Confucian  temple,  thickly  crowded  with  sellers  of  fruit 
and  provisions,  trinket-dealers,  vagabonds  and  idlers,  and  lame, 
blind,  maimed  and  loathsome  beggars.  "We  looked  into  the  temple, 
and  found  its  walls  covered  with  texts  of  the  classic  books.  As  we 
came  out,  the  crowd  around  us  had  formidably  increased.  There 
is  no  coin  in  China  but  an  iron  one,  of  which  a  thousand  pieces  go 
to  the  dollar.  Of  course,  we  had  none  of  these.  The  beggars, 
unaccustomed  to  being  refused  the  pitiful  alms  they  expected, 
became  importunate  and  impertinent.  One  of  our  servants,  who 
had  a  few  English  sixpences,  emptied  his  pockets,  without  other 
effect  than  increasing  the  number  of  mendicants  and  their  vehe- 
mence. 

Our  view  from  the  summit  behind  the  temple  renewed  the 
impressions  which  we  had  received  on  the  opposite  promontory, 
the  previous  day.  Resuming  our  chairs,  we  were  on  our  return  to 
the  landing-place  on  the  river,  when  a  painful  adventure  occurred, 
the  first  of  that  kind  in  our  travels.  Foreigners  seldom  cross  the 
river  to  Wu-chang.  Our  visit  was  a  novelty,  there,  and  excited 
much  curiosity.  The  town  contains  a  university  in  which  ten 
thousand  students  are  gathered  from  the  provinces,  and  it  also  has 


222  JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

a  military  school  with  a  large  garrison.  These  provincial  schools 
are  distinguished  for  their  bigotry  and  prejudice  against  foreigners. 
Our  friends,  however,  had  not  apprised  us  of  these  facts,  nor  had 
they  taken  into  consideration  that  our  party  contained  two  ladies, 
who  would  be  objects  of  special  curiosity  here,  as  they  were  on  our 
way  to  the  Great  Wall.  A  section  of  the  crowd,  which  had  been 
following  us,  stopped  on  the  brink  ot  the  hill,  from  which  they 
could  look  down  on  the  winding  path  we  were  descending.  One 
of  the  ladies  had  left  her  chair,  and  was  walking  in  advance.  Mr. 
Seward  was  in  an  elegant  green  chair  with  glass  windows ;  the 
other  lady  in  a  covered  bamboo-chair  behind.  A  stone  six  inches 
thick  struck  the  back  window  of  Mr.  Seward's  chair  and  shivered  it 
to  pieces.  A  second,  as  large,  entered  the  same  window,  and  fell 
within  the  chair.  A  third  stone  struck  the  top  of  the  last  chair, 
and  crushed  the  frail  top.  The  coolie  bearers  of  the  two  chairs 
stopped  in  a  fright,  and  raised  an  outcry,  directed  toward  persons 
on  the  top  of  the  cliff.  AVell  they  might,  for,  if  either  of  those 
missiles  had  fallen  on  one  of  their  naked  heads,  it  would  have 
proved  fotal.  Happily  the  silken  curtains  of  Mr.  Seward's  chair 
saved  him  from  injury.  He  instantly  alighted  and  turned  to  find 
the  assailant.  The  enemy  had,  however,  fled  in  consternation  from 
the  hill,  and  it  remained  to  us  only  to  exchange  congratulations 
upon  our  escape  from  a  common  danger.  Though  the  people  sur- 
rounded us  in  masses,  which  rendered  our  passage  through  the 
narrow  streets  tedious  and  difiicult,  they  made  no  expression  or 
sign  of  unkiiidness  or  disrespect.  Mr.  Seward  regards  the  assault 
not  as  one  of  design  or  deliberation,  but  as  the  unpremeditated  and 
wanton  act  of  rude  and  mischievous  idlers.  Nevertheless,  the 
gentlemen  at  Han-Kow  have  addressed  the  Taou-tai  on  the  subject. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

RETURN  TO  SHANOHAL 

Departure  from  Han-Kow. — Chinese  Military  Art. — A  Marvellous  Echo. — The  Imperial 
Canal. — Approach  to  Chin-Kiang. — The  United  States  Steamer  jUaska. — Running 
down  a  Junk. — An  Apology  from  the  Viceroy. — The  Comprador. — Chinese  Ladies. 
— Embark  on  an  English  Steamer. 

Steamer  Plymouth  Rock,  Ya7ig-tse-hiang,  December  12th. — We 
left  the  wharf  at  Han-Kow  at  daylight  this  morning,  and  in  return- 
ing to  Shanghai  we  are  expecting  to  enjoy,  by  daylight,  the  scenes 
lost  to  us  by  night  in  ascending  the  river.  The  banks  below  Han- 
Kow  are  low  and  flat,  with  a  city  at  almost  every  bend,  but  the 
mountains  crowd  closely  ou  the  plain. 

Decemher  IMJi. — Kight  and  rain  came  down  upon  us  as  we 
approached  Ku-Kiang,  but  w^ith  only  this  pleasant  consequence, 
that  we  gathered  at  the  dinner-table  in  our  cabin  the  merry  party 
which  we  were  to  have  met  on  the  Bund.  Wlien  they  had  retired, 
certain  tall  natives  of  the  country,  of  course  olive-colored,  with 
glazed  crowns  and  smoothly-braided  queues,  brought  two  garden- 
vases  and  two  baskets,  each  of  the  latter  containing  what  our  gentle 
friends  at  home  would  pronounce  "  a  love  "  of  a  tea-set- — one  ver- 
milion, the  other  blue.     Thanks  to  Mr.  Rose. 

At  Zuaking  is  a  gleaming  white  pagoda,  one  hundred  feet  high, 
with  a  cupola  of  burnished  brass.  It  has  seven  verandas,  the  roof 
of  each  ornamented  with  bright,  tinkling  bells.  At  its  base  is  a 
military  school. 


224  JAPAN",   CHINA,   AND   COCniN  CHINA. 

Certainly  militaiy  art,  the  world  over,  delights  in  fine  colors, 
lond  noises,  and  much  demonstration.  In  the  West,  however,  we 
are  abating  color  and  noise,  while  we  study  to  increase  force.  In 
China,  they  reverse  this.  They  do  not  improve  their  engines  and 
weapons ;  they  make  greater  noise  with  their  gongs  and  a  more 
dazzling  display  of  yellow  and  red  in  their  uniforms  and  flags  than 
ever.  Naval  junks  meet  us  everywhere  on  the  river.  Though 
diminutive  in  size,  and  carrying  ordnance  of  the  smallest  calibre, 
their  bunting  surpasses  that  of  a  Hudson  River  steamer  going  to 
celebrate  the  Schiitzenfest. 

We  have  just  passed  a  mountain-gorge  which  has  a  marvellous 
echo.  When  we  entered  the  pass,  the  reverberations  were  single. 
Passing  on,  the  shrill  notes  of  the  steam-whistle  came  back  to  us 
prolonged  and  louder.  Farther  on,  the  mountains  gave  us  back 
two  distinct  sounds  for  each  one  they  received ;  afterward  three, 
four,  five  for  one.  It  was  the  perfection  of  ventriloquism.  The 
sounds  were  articulate ;  they  seemed  to  come  through  the  earth ; 
sometimes  sonorous,  at  others  soft  and  plaintive,  always  impres- 
sive and  mournful. 

Chin-Kiang^  Decemher  l^th. — Anchoring  off  the  left  bank  of 
the  river  in  very  deep  water,  and  taking  the  ship's  boats,  we  made 
an  entrance,  not  without  difiiculty,  into  the  Imperial  Canal. 

Take  its  story  briefly,  to  understand  better  what  little  we  saw  : 
Built  in  the  thirteenth  century,  it  is  a  monument  equally  of  the 
greatness  and  of  the  wisdom  of  Kublai-Khan.  Its  length  is  six 
hundred  and  fifty  miles,  nearly  twice  that  of  the  Erie  Canal.  De- 
signed for  irrigation  as  well  as  navigation,  it  varies  in  width  from 
two  hundred  feet  to  two  thousand  feet.  It  is  not,  like  our  canals, 
built  by  excavation,  but  with  artificial  dikes  raised  on  an  alluvial 
soil,  its  banks  and  bottom  paved  and  cemented.  Instead  of  locks, 
there  are  inclined  planes.  Every  abutment,  flood-gate,  and  bridge, 
is  of  solid  granite  masonry.  The  Imperial  Canal,  like  the  Erie 
Canal,  is  not  an  isolated  channel,  but  only  the  main  artery  of  a 
system  of  artificial  navigation,  the  aggregate  length  of  whose 
parts   is   four  thousand    miles,   while  they  penetrate   every   one 


THE  IMPERIAL  CANAL.  225 

of  the  eighteen  provinces  of  the  empire.  The  canal  is  compactlj 
crowded  with  junks.  We  could  not  make  our  way  into  it  a 
yard's  length,  without  waiting  for  a  movement  of  the  vessels 
for  our  accommodation.  Our  appeals  to  the  boatmen  for  this 
courtesy  were  not  unkindly  received,  though  the  result  was  a 
scene  of  wild  and  noisy  disturbance.  We  soon  became  con- 
vinced that,  in  our  small  boats,  we  were  in  danger  of  being 
crushed  between  junks,  even  though  nothing  should  occur  to  pro- 
duce misunderstanding  or  disturbance.  We  returned,  therefore, 
to  the  ship's  deck,  as  cautiously  as  possible.  In  that  position  we 
traced  the  course  of  the  canal  "  high,"  though  not  "  dry,"  above 
ground  four  miles.  The  shipping  through  that  distance  was  as 
dense  as  at  the  mouth.  The  offices  of  the  managers  and  toll-col- 
lectors cover  the  banks,  while  an  armed  fleet  rides  at  the  mouth  of 
the  canal  to  prevent  piracy  and  smuggling.  We  learn  here  that 
obstructions  render  the  canal  impassable  for  the  aggregate  extent 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  Even  the  navigable  portions  are 
so  much  injured  as  to  float  only  small  vessels.  The  largest  we  saw 
are  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  tons  burden. 

Three  months  ago,  when  a  foreign  war  was  apprehended,  an 
engineer  submitted  to  the  Government  a  project  for  restoring  the 
navigation,  but  elicited  no  reply.  There  is  little  doubt  that  the 
canals  of  China,  the  most  successful  and  magnificent  system  of  in- 
land navigation  the  world  has  ever  seen,  are  falling  into  decay  and 
ruin. 

The  approach  to  Chin-Kiang  is  very  picturesque.  It  stands  on 
a  semicu'cular  bay — the  western  entrance  guarded  by  Golden  Isl- 
and, on  which  stand  a  Buddhist  temple  and  a  pagoda — the  eastern 
entrance  by  Silver  Island,  its  undulating  sui'face  embellished  with 
tea-houses  and  villas. 

Deceniber  l%th,  4  6'cloGk. — We  are  passing  from  the  broad 
estuary  into  the  Woosung.  Farewell,  Yang-tse,  worthy,  from  thy 
length  and  breadth,  to  be  called  "  Son  of  the  Sea,"  though  the 
critics  learned  in  the  Chinese  language  deny  thee  that  significant 
appellation^  and  mention  that  Yang-tse  means  something  else. 


226  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

Shanghai,  Decemher  IQth,  night. — Quite  to  our  surprise,  we 
passed  the  Colorado,  still  at  lier  anchorage.  As  we  approached 
Shanghai,  the  Plymouth  Eock  took  a  berth  far  out  in  the  stream 
among  the  foreign  shipping,  busy  junks  and  sam-pans  darting 
around  her  in  all  directions.  While  standing  on  the  steamer's  deck 
awaiting  a  launch  to  convey  us  to  the  bank,  the  United  States 
steamship-of-war  Alaska  came  rapidly  down  the  river.  As  we 
were  in  the  act  of  exchanging  compliments  with  the  officers  on  her 
deck,  she  rode  over  a  Chinese  junk  which  was  madly  attempting  to 
cross  her  bow.  An  instant  afterward  the  two  parts  of  the  junk 
appeared  on  either  side  of  the  iron-clad.  "With  how  many  lives  the 
junk  was  freighted  we  could  not  know,  but  we  saw  living  men 
clinging  to  the  sundered  parts  of  the  wreck,  and  other  living  men 
struggling  in  the  water.  The  Alaska  promptly  reversed  her  en- 
gines, threw  out  life-preservers  and  lowered  her  boats.  Fortu- 
nately, at  that  moment,  a  steam-launch  from  the  Colorado,  reen- 
forced  by  Chinese  sam-pans,  went  to  the  rescue,  but  we  were 
unable  to  discover  with  what  success.  The  painful  incident  has 
saddened  our  return  to  Shanghai. 

December  11th. — "We  learn  from  the  consul-general  that  the 
survivors  of  the  wrecked  junk  hastened  to  the  consulate  with  com- 
plaints against  the  Alaska,  and  that  he,  as  well  as  Admiral  Rodgers, 
is  engaged  in  examining  the  circumstances  of  the  collision.  The 
captain  of  the  Alaska  represents  that  he  was  hastening  to  get  over 
the  bar  before  ebb-tide  ;  that  the  junk  was  crossing  his  bows,  and 
had  time  to  clear  herself,  but  that,  as  her  crew  advanced  on  their 
track,  they  espied  the  Plymouth  Kock  coming  up,  and,  taking 
alarm  lest  they  should  come  under  her  wheels,  they  stopped  in 
their  course  and  fell  under  the  keel  of  the  Alaska. 

"We  have  arranged  to  sail  for  Hong-Kong  on  the  22d. 

Shanghai,  Decemher  19th. — Le-ming-Che,  Taou-tai  of  Han-Kow, 
to  H.  E.  Hobson,  assistant  in  charge  Han-Kow  customs : 

"I  am  in  receipt  of  your  note  informing  me  of  your  having 
visited  "Wu-Chang,  with  a  party  among  whom  was  his  Excellency 


THE  CHINESE   COMPRADOR.  227 

William  H.  Seward,  on  which  occasion  you  were  assailed  by  a 
disorderly  mob  of  boys,  and  yonr  sedan-chairs  broken.  The  pro- 
ceeding was  most  indecorous.  I  am  intensely  grieved  that  his 
Excellency,  the  American  Secretary,  should  have  met  with  such  an 
insult  on  the  occasion  of  his  visit.  I  respectfully  request  you  to 
convey  to  his  Excellency  my  profound  regret  for  what  has  taken 
place.  I  have  duly  instructed  the  Wu-Chang  magistrate  to  issue 
proclamations  to  prosecute  the  offenders. 

"  Intercalang,  tenth  moon,  twenty-first  day." 

Shanghai,  December  20th. — The  comjyrador,  in  China,  is  a  char- 
acter as  incomprehensible  as  important.  He  is  a  native  trained  in 
accounts  and  trade.  Employed  by  the  foreign  hongs  (mercantile 
houses)  as  book-keeper  and  accountant,  he  adds  to  these  functions 
that  of  the  broker,  who  buys  for  the  firm,  and  makes  all  its  sales. 
In  these  transactions,  he  receives  commissions  from  both  parties. 
What  is  more  singular  is,  that  he  maintains  this  duplicity  of  rela- 
tions without  suspicion  of  dishonesty.  The  comprador  does  not 
confine  himself  to  mere  trade,  he  is  indispensable  in  all  domestic 
and  social  transactions.  He  negotiates  marriages  between  parties 
who  never  know  nor  see  each  other  until  the  contract  is  completed. 
Kussell  &  Company's  comprador,  to-day,  paid  his  annual  visit  to 
Mr.  Warden  at  the  Compound.  He  brought  his  wife  and  her  two 
handmaidens,  presenting  the  latter,  however,  as  his  wives,  numbers 
three  and  four;  apologizing  for  number  two,  who  remained  at 
home.  Also,  two  daughters-in-law,  one  child,  and  six  attendants. 
The  women,  of  course,  came  to  pay  their  respects  to  Mrs.  Warden. 
The  comprador  desired  to  make  his  homage  to  Mr.  Seward,  and  the 
women  requested  an  introduction  to  the  ladies  of  his  party.  There 
was  difficulty,  at  first,  about  the  women  coming  into  Mr.  Seward's 
presence,  but  it  was  overcome.  The  wives  and  the  boy  shook 
hands  with  us  quite  in  the  American  way,  but  evidently  not  with- 
out concern  for  their  finger-nails,  some  of  which  were  quite  as  long 
as  the  fingers  that  bore  them.  They  were  elegantly  dressed,  wear- 
ing a  profusion  of  jewels,  and  were  very  timid.  As  they  spoke  no 
English,  and  we  no  Chinese,  nothing  remained  for  them  but'  to 


228  JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

study  our  dresses  and  ornaments,  as  well  as  the  furniture  and  arti- 
cles of  vertu  in  the  drawing-room.  When  they  had  exhausted 
those  on  the  first-floor,  they  desired  to  explore  the  second  story. 
The  grand  stairway  is  broad  and  easy,  but,  as  all  these  women  have 
tiny  feet,  each  required  a  strong  arm  in  making  the  ascent,  but  that 
must  not  be  a  man's  arm.  The  ladies,  therefore,  offered  theirs,  and 
"  such  a  getting  up-stairs,  you  never  did  see ! "  It  would  have 
been  amusing,  if  it  had  not  been  really  dangerous.  After  a 
thorough  and  minute  inspection  of  the  upper  part  of  the  house, 
they  descended  the  staircase  with  much  nervous  apprehension. 
They  then  listened  wonderingly  to  our  music  on  the  piano-forte. 
Calling,  then,  for  their  gorgeous  sedan-chairs,  they  retired,  doubt- 
less to  describe,  to  their  small-footed  and  long-fingered  friends,  the 
mysteries  and  absurdities  of  Western  fashions.  During  their  entire 
visit,  the  comjyrador  had  directed  the  movements  of  his  wives  and 
children  with  all  the  vigilance  and  conscious  superiority  of  a  tur- 
key-cock. As  we  assisted  the  women,  or  rather  carried  them  in 
our  arms,  up  and  down  the  staircase,  bright-eyed,  gentle,  and  sweet- 
voiced  indeed,  but  dwarfed,  distorted,  and  enslaved,  their  de- 
pendence was  touching.  We  had  not  before  realized  the  depth  of 
the  abasement  of  women  in  China. 

Steamer  Travancore,  China  Sea,  December  22<^. — Many  friends 
attended  us  to  the  steamer,  and  kindly  signals  were  made  to  us  from 
balconies,  the  consulate,  and  the  shipping  in  the  harbor. 

For  the  first  time  in  our  travels,  we  are  on  a  foreign  deck.  The 
Travancore,  named  from  a  province  in  British  India,  on  the  coast 
of  Malabar,  belongs  to  the  "Peninsular  and  Oriental"  line  of 
steamers,  usually  abbreviated  the  "  P.  and  O." 

The  familiar  berth  of  the  Colorado,  at  Wusung,  was  vacant. 
She  had  sailed,  an  hour  before,  for  Nagasaki.  We  were  still  ex- 
pressing our  regret  that  we  were  to  see  her  no  more,  when  we 
passed  the  bar.  Standing  southerly,  however,  we  saw  the  majestic 
flag-ship  before  us,  at  rest  in  the  open  sea,  with  all  her  flags  and 
streamers  flying,  the  admiral  and  officers  on  the  quarter-deck,  and 
every  yard  fully  manned.     Three  hearty  cheers  greeted  us  from  her 


A   SCENE   OX   THE   IMPERIAL   CANAL. 


229 


six  hundred  seamen,  her  colors  dropped,  officers  and  men  saluted 
us,  and  the  faithful  band  gave  us  for  farewell  the  same  old  national 
air  with  which  it  had  greeted  us  on  coming  into  Chinese  waters. 
The  Travancore  lowered  her  flags,  and  every  officer  and  passenger 
joined  us  in  acknowledging  the  kind  and  loyal  demonstration  of  the 
Colorado. 


SCENE   ON    Tnr.    IMPERIAL   CANAL. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

FROM  SHANGHAI  10  HONG-KONG. 

Bad  Weather. — Cold  Weather. — Variety  of  Seamen. — The  Ship's  Accommodations. — 
Hong-Kong. — Beautiful  Scenery. — Old  Acquaintances  renewed. — Native  and  For- 
eign Population. 

On  hoard  the  Travancore,  Christmas-Day,  1870. — Give  us  no 
more  of  the  China  Sea ;  give  us,  instead,  the  Pacific  Ocean,  the 
Sea  of  Japan,  the  Yellow  Sea ;  give  us  any  water,  if  it  be  not  the 
Bay  of  Yeddo,  and  any  Gulf,  but  the  Gulf  of  Pe-chee-lee. 

A  bleak  northeaster,  with  rain,  wind,  and  darkness,  drove  us 
to  the  cabin  as  soon  as  we  had  parted  with  the  Colorado.  When, 
during  the  day,  the  decks  dried,  the  winds  grew  higher  and  the 
seas  rougher,  and  we  have  remained  prisoners  below,  until  the  morn- 
ing. This  cold  weather,  on  the  verge  of  the  tropics,  is  a  surprise ; 
the  high  winds  compel  the  native  shipping  to  hug  the  coast,  and 
equally  oblige  foreign  vessels  to  keep  away  from  it.  Thus,  it  has 
happened  that  we  have  seen  neither  ship  nor  coast,  although  a 
narrow  sea  divides  the  great  island  of  Formosa  on  our  left  from  the 
continent.  !N^ow  that  we  are  approaching  Hong-Kong,  we  are 
surrounded  with  native  craft. 

TVe  mark  a  new  phase  in  this  navigation.  We  found  the  sea- 
men, on  the  Pacific  mail-steamer  China,  chiefly  Chinese ;  so  they 
are  in  the  coastwise  trade  of  the  Yellow  Sea.  This  Chinese  monop- 
oly is  broken  here.  At  the  ship's  muster  tliis  morning,  the  ranks 
showed  many  variations  of  physiognomy,  with  all  shades  of  dark 


0 
0 

6 

0 


ijl  :fc-'j>iM,i..::.,  :i'ialEiMii» 


AEEIVAL  AT  HONG-KONG.  231 

complexion.  Of  Europeans  there  are  none ;  besides  the  light- 
yellow  Chinese,  there  are  the  darker  Malays  ;  small  but  active 
Hindoos,  almost  black,  with  perfect  Caucasian  features  and  curling 
hair ;  and  strongly-built,  heav^'-featured,  coal-black  negroes  from 
South  Africa.  The  languages  and  religions  of  the  crew  are  not 
less  diverse.  There  are  Bramins,  Buddhists,  Confucians,  and 
Mohammedans.  While  uniform  discipline  is  enforced,  difference 
of  faith,  as  well  as  of  diet  and  costume,  is  tolerated.  The  Chinese 
dress  as  on  shore.  The  Hindoos  wear  a  gay  cotton  blouse,  on 
week-days,  which  they  exchange  on  holidays  for  tightly-fitting  cot- 
ton trousers  and  blouses  of  the  same  material,  scarlet  or  crimson 
sashes,  and  turbans.  Tlie  Hindoo  boatswain  adds  to  this  a  gilt- 
embroidered,  scarlet  vest.  The  Malays  wear  calico  pantaloons,  with 
white  shirts,  and  the  negi'oes,  here  as  everywhere  else,  indulge  in 
the  gayest  of  colors. 

The  ship's  accommodations  do  not  compare  favorably  with  those 
of  the  Pacific  Mail  Line,  but  here  disparaging  criticism  must  end. 
Though  the  table  is  frugal,  the  wines  and  provisions  are  of  the  best, 
and  the  linen  is  unimpeachable.  The  service  is  punctual,  and  the 
oflicers  and  seamen  are  courteous  and  watchful. 

Hong-Kong^  December  l^th. — Hong-Kong  is  an  island,  which 
Great  Britain  has  conquered,  and  commands  the  entrance  of  Canton. 
It  rises  more  abruptly  from  the  water  than  the  island  of  St.  Thomas 
in  the  West  Indies. 

We  anchored  at  three  o'clock  yesterday.  There  is  far  less 
shipping  here  than  at  Shanghai.  The  terraces  which  wind  around 
the  hill-sides  show  distinctly  in  bold  outline  every  dwelling  and 
structure  of  the  European  town,  which,  as  well  as  the  foreign  ships 
in  the  harbor,  was  yesterday  gayly  decorated  with  flags  and  Christ- 
mas-greens. We  were  received  by  Mr.  Murray  Forbes,  representa- 
tive here  of  Russell  &  Company,  at  Kee-Chung,  the  name  of  their 
princely  house.  We  found  fire  on  the  hearth,  the  first  which  has 
been  kindled  this  season,  and  the  people  here  are  rejoicing  in  hav- 
ing escaped  at  last  the  intense  heat  of  summer.  We  make  these 
memoranda,  sitting  in  a  deep  window  of  this  great,  old-fashioned 


232 


JAPAi^,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 


dwelling,  shadowed  bj  the  moimtain-summit,  while  an  unclouded 
morning  sun  brings  the  town  below  into  broad  relief,  and  beyond 
it  the  deep,  blue  bay  dotted  with  diverse  shipping.  A  high,  red, 
rocky  coast  bounds  the  prospect.  Imagine  such  a  picture  as  we 
have  tried  to  present,  seen  as  we  are  seeing  it  through  a  frame- 
work of  palmetto,  banyan,  camphor,  and  acacia  trees,  and  you  have 
Hong-Kong. 

December  ^Ith. — Resting,  Mr.  Seward  has  exchanged  visits  with 
the  Governor  of  Hong-Kong,  and  the  United  States  consul,  Mr. 
Bailey.  We  are  renewing  old  acquaintances  with  countrymen 
and  countrywomen.  Our  departure  for  Singapore  is  fixed  for  the 
3d  of  January.  We  need,  therefore  to  improve  our  few  remain- 
ing days  in  China. 

The  British  found  five  thousand  natives  on  the  north  end 
of  the  island.  Under  the  rule  of  Great  Britain,  they  are  now  a 
busy  and  prosperous  community,  numbering  forty  thousand  engaged 
in  trade  and  the  fisheries.  The  foreign  population  is  perhaps  one 
thousand. 


TEADlNG-<inNK. 


CHAPTER  XY. 

FROM  HONG-KONG   TO   CANTON. 

The  Chinese  Coasting-Trade. — Chinese  Smugglers. — Canton  Kiver-Banks. — Aspect  of 
Canton. — The  British  Concession. — The  American  Hongs. — The  Consul  and  the 
Taou-tai. — The  Diet  of  the  Cantonese. — Manufactures  of  Canton. — The  Temples  of 
Canton. 

Canton,  December  ^Sth^'  Steamer  Kin-San. — American  side- 
wheel  steamers  carry  the  foreign  coasting-trade  between  Hong- 
Kong  and  Macao  westward,  Hong-Kong  and  Canton  northw^ard, 
and  Hong-Kong,  Swatow,  Amoy,  Xing-po,  and  Foo-Choo,  on  the 
eastern  coast. 

We  occupied,  with  two  friends,  the  saloon  and  upper  cabins  of 
the  Kin-San,  w^hile  the  lower  deck  bore  four  hundred  Chinese, 
chiefly  traders,  who  pay  a  fare  of  a  Mexican  dollar  for  a  voyage  of 
ninety  miles.  The  purser  brought  us  the  box  which  contained  the 
collection  of  dollars  for  this  voyage.  Many  were  rejected.  The 
coins  were  genuine,  but  almost  every  piece  had  been  clipped.  The 
deficiency  was  made  up  in  "  cash."  From  the  deck,  we  noticed  a 
native  trader,  who  at  intervals  advanced  to  the  bulwark,  and  threw 
into  the  water  small  bunches  of  hay  and  straw.  We  observed  that, 
in  every  case,  natives  rowed  from  the  shore  in  small  boats,  and 
picked  up  this  refuse.  Our  friends,  who  knew  the  trick,  informed 
us  that  the  bundles  of  hay  and  straw  contained  packages  of  opium. 
Another  trader  dropped  a  sealed  bottle  into  the  river.  A  partner, 
who  was  waiting  on  the  bank,  took  it  up  and  found  in  it  the  prices 


234  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND  COCHIN  CHINA. 

current  of  opium  at  London.  Smuggling  wears  only  this  thin 
covering  in  China. 

Our  course  for  forty-five  miles — half  our  voyage — lay  among  sea- 
islands,  giving  us  only  occasional  glimpses  of  the  main-land.  We 
then  entered  the  narrow  channel  of  the  deep  river,  promiscuously 
called  the  North  and  the  Canton.  The  banks  are  lined  with  the 
"Bogue"  forts,  before  the  "  Opium  War"  regarded  by  the  Chinese 
as  a  reliable  defence.  The  victors  stipulated  that  these  forts  shall 
not  again  be  garrisoned.  They  are  now  falling  into  ruin.  Thus 
Canton,  the  southern  capital  of  China,  is  absolutely  defenceless,  with 
a  British  naval  and  military  station  at  its  very  door.  Might  not 
Christian  merchants  in  the  East  be  content  with  this  ?  Whampoa, 
some  fifteen  miles  down  the  river,  is  the  outpost  of  the  foreign  trade 
carried  on  at  Canton.  The  river-banks  below  Whampoa  are  dull 
and  monotonous.  Above  that  place  they  present  scenes  of  tropical 
luxuriance  and  beauty.  The  valley  expands,  and  is  covered  with 
sugar-plantations,  banana  and  orange  groves,  and  the  surrounding 
hills  are  crowned  with  pagodas.  Canton  stands  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  river,  but  projects  in  long  suburbs  over  the  opposite  shore. 
Neither  Nagasaki,  nor  Yokohama,  nor  Osaka,  nor  Han-Kow,  nor 
Tien-Tsin,  nor  Shanghai,  nor  Hong-Kong,  nor  Peking,  gives  the 
stranger  so  effective  an  impression  of  a  great  city. 

We  moored  at  the  wharf  in  the  midst  of  a  floating  city  of  three 
hundred  thousand  souls.  Canton,  like  the  surrounding  provinces, 
is  traversed  by  canals,  which  bring  to  its  wharves  passengers  in 
immense  numbers  from  all  parts  of  the  empire.  The  inventive 
talent,  as  well  as  the  frugality  of  the  Chinese,  is  in  nothing  more 
conspicuous  than  in  the  provision  which  is  made  for  these  wayside 
travellers.  There  are  blocks  and  streets  of  gayly-painted  and  deco- 
rated floating  inns  or  taverns,  shops  for  supplying  all  wants  with- 
out the  delay  and  cost  of  going  ashore.  Our  passage  through  these 
winding  streets  and  alleys  gave  us  some  odd  revelations  of  marine 
life.  All  manner  of  domestic  occupations  are  carried  on  without 
fear  of  annoyance,  or  afliectation  of  privacy.  Chins  are  shaven, 
queues  are  plaited,  dinners  are  cooked  and  served,  clothes  are  made, 
washed,  and  mended,  children  are  dressed,  whipped,  and  put  to 


THE  TOU-TAFS  NOTE.  235 

bed,  that  is  to  say,  laid  on  a  mat  and  fastened  with  a  cord  around 
their  waists,  and  tied  to  a  mast  to  keep  them  from  falling  overboard. 
Even  "field-sports"  are  not  wanting.  A  favorite  exercise  of  this 
kind  is  the  chase  of  the  wharf-rat.  We  saw  one  caught,  skinned, 
spitted,  and  put  on  charcoal.  This  amusement  is  pursued  chiefly 
by  women  and  children.  The  fishing  with  cormorants  is  a  vocation 
of  a  large  class. 

Our  party  had  no  sooner  reached  shore,  than  it  broke  into  fac- 
tions. The  younger  members  extemporized  a  guide  and  boat, 
crossed  the  river,  and  were  soon  lost  in  studying  carved  ivory, 
shell,  and  sandal-wood  boxes,  pagodas  and  toilet-cases,  and  orna- 
ments of  gold,  silver,  jasper,  and  jade.  Mr.  Seward,  more  politic, 
visited  the  British  Concession.  If  they  found  the  fabrics  of  Canton 
more  exquisite  than  they  had  imagined,  he  found  the  foreign  settle- 
ment more  spacious  and  elegant  than  the  people  of  Shanghai  and 
Hong-Kong  allow  it  to  be.  There  are  thirty  or  forty  spacious 
foreign  hongs,  an  Episcopal  church,  built  of  white  marble,  and  a 
club-house  with  a  good  library  and  billiard-room ;  on  the  bank,  a 
promenade,  handsomely-ornamented  with  gardens,  which  rejoices 
in  the  name  of  Cha-min  (Sand-face). 

The  American  houses,  Russell  &  Company  and  Smith,  Archer 
&  Company,  finding  that  the  acquisition  of  title  by  Americans 
within  the  British  Concession  was  attended  with  some  uncertainty, 
have  rebuilt  their  old  factories  in  the  Chinese  city  outside  the  Con- 
cession, and  we  are  here  the  guests  of  those  well-known  hongs. 

Deceimher  ^9)th. — Archdeacon  Grey  is  a  philo-Chinese.  He  has 
resided  here  nineteen  years,  and  he  kindly  off'ers  us  his  invaluable 
assistance  in  the  exploration  of  Canton. 

Meantime,  the  United  States  consul,  anticipating  that  Mr.  Sew- 
ard would  esteem  it  an  act  of  becoming  courtesy  to  call  on  the 
Taou-tai  of  the  province,  addressed  a  note  to  that  functionary.  He 
remitted  to  the  consul  the  following  well-argued  and  most  conclu- 
sive answer : 

"  In  answer  to  your  note  stating  that  the  Honorable  "William 
H.  Seward,  formerly  Secretary  of  State,  having  visited  Peking,  and 


236  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

called  at  the  foreign  office  there,  had  arrived  in  Canton,  and  pro- 
posed to  appoint  a  time  to  call,  etc.,  I  have  to  say  that,  considering 
his  Honor  Sevsrard  has  laid  aside  his  office,  and  therefore  there  can 
be  no  consulting  upon  public  business,  and  as  the  foreign  office  has 
sent  no  notice  of  his  coming,  it  is  not  convenient  for  us  to  see  and 
look  each  other  in  the  face. 

"  Please  inform  his  Honor  Seward,  the  great  officer,  that  it  will 
be  of  no  use  to  come  to  my  office.  This  reply  with  my  best  compli- 
ments, my  name  and  my  card." 

The  consul,  we  know  not  how  justly,  attributes  this  decision  of 
the  Taou-tai  to  a  public  misunderstanding  between  himself  and  that 
officer,  which  had  arisen  before  our  arrival — the  Taou-tai  fearing 
that  an  interview  with  Mr.  Seward  might  produce  some  popular 
jealousy. 

Canton  is  a  sphinx,  serenely  indulging  in  calm  recollections,  and 
seeming  to  smile  with  equal  contentment  on  time  and  change.  We 
have  interrogated  it.     How  shall  we  be  able  to  record  its  responses. 

The  city  covers  a  very  large  plain.  Some  of  the  streets  are  ten 
feet  wide,  they  average  seven ;  all  irregular  and  without  a  plan. 
They  are  travelled  chiefly  on  foot,  but  almost  everywhere  sedan- 
chairs  can  be  used.  Paved  with  flat  granite  blocks,  the  sewerage 
is  concealed,  and  in  this  one  Chinese  city  there  is  no  want  of  public 
cleanliness.  An  untid^^  person  is  as  rarely  seen  in  the  streets  here, 
as  a  tidy  one  in  the  streets  of  Peking  or  Han-Kow.  Occasionally, 
we  passed  a  dwelling,  palatial  in  its  dimensions  and  embellishment, 
but,  generally  speaking,  the  city  presents  merely  a  mass  of  shops. 
The  floors  are  on  a  level  with  the  streets,  the  houses  without  veran- 
das or  porches,  and  entirely  open  in  front.  The  buildings  are 
narrow,  usually  of  one  story,  often  twenty  feet  high,  and  each 
has  an  attic.  It  is  a  Chinese  proverb  that  "  ill-luck  follows  ridge- 
beams  which  connect  with  each  other  in  a  continuous  line." 
Hence  the  roofs  are  of  unequal  height,  and  the  boards  which  pro- 
ject from  them  over  the  streets,  to  protect  travellers  from  the  sun 
and  rain,  are  irregularly  placed.  The  material  of  the  fragile  walls 
is  dark-brown  brick.  Every  one  knows  that  the  Chinese  write  from 
right  to  left,  and  in  downward  columns.     The  sign-boards,  painted 


0 

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W 
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DIET   OF   THE   CANTOKESE.  237 

in  ricli  vermilion  or  gilded  on  dark  blue,  instead  of  being  horizontal, 
hang  perpendicularly,  everywhere  obstructing  the  passenger.  The 
shops  are  gorgeously  ornamented.  Helmbold's  patent-medicine 
shop  on  Broadway  would  not  be  out  of  place  here.  There  are  no 
street  monuments.  The  streets  are  often  short  and  curved,  they 
branch  at  all  angles,  and  sometimes  are  continued  through  very 
narrow  gates  or  mere  door-ways.  It  thus  happens  that  there  is  no 
long  vista,  and  Canton  is  a  labyrinth,  which  only  one  who  is  prac- 
tised therem  can  thread.  It  is  divided  into  quarters  for  the  accom- 
modation of  divers  kinds  of  business  more  completely  than  any 
European  city.  Bankers  have  their  exclusive  Wall  Streets  ;•  the 
mercantile  shops  are  in  districts  removed  from  manufactories ;  em- 
broiderers, silk-weavers,  cotton-weavers,  lapidaries,  jewellers,  and 
carvers,  have  separately  their  own  quarters.  Only  vegetables, 
fruits,  fish,  meat,  poultry,  and  game,  are  displayed  everywhere. 

The  dwellers  in  Canton  are  epicureans.  They  have  fish  from 
the  rivers  and  fish  from  the  sea — veal,  mutton,  venison,  pigs,  kids, 
ducks,  geese,  grouse,  pheasants,  quails,  and  ortolans.  Whatever 
they  can  serve  you  at  the  Astor-House,  you  can  command  here — 
ay,  more  than  can  be  found  on  the  Astor-House  carte  /  for,  in  the 
midst  of  the  tempting  display  in  the  provision-shops,  are  seen  the 
carefully-dressed  carcasses  of  infinite  rats  and  unmistakable  saddles 
of  dogs,  while  here  and  there  you  notice  in  the  shop-windows  a 
placard  which  announces  that  "black  cat  is  served  hot,  at  all 
hours."  A  decoction  of  snakes  is  sold  as  a  medicine.  As  we  were 
passing  a  small  lake,  a  boy  in  our  train  waded  waist-deep  and 
brought  out  a  water-snake.  We  urged  him  to  throw  the  un- 
fortunate reptile  back,  but  he  declined,  and,  bruising  its  head,  he 
put  his  finger  to  his  mouth  by  way  of  informing  us  that  it  was  to 
be  his  supper. 

Rope  is  made  here  by  the  same  process  as  among  us,  but  a 
greater  variety  of  materials  is  used.  Besides  hemp,  they  work 
bamboo,  ratan,  and  tanned  and  untanned  hides. 

A  primitive  process  is  resorted  to  in  bleaching.  The  operator 
takes  clean  water  by  the  mouthful  and  spurts  it  over  the  fabric. 
Calendering  is  done  as  it  was  in  Europe  before  the  invention  of 


238  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

modern  macliinery.  The  cloth  is  passed  under  a  stone  roller  which 
the  operative  rocks  with  his  feet.  The  gloss  produced  is  unequalled. 
We  entered  a  flouring-mill — a  blinded  cow,  at  the  end  of  a  shaft, 
moves  each  of  the  seven  pairs  of  stones.  The  operation  is  perfect, 
and  the  animals  seem  sound  and  healthy.  The  human  foot  moves 
the  winnowing  and  bolting  processes. 

No  stranger  could  conceive  the  excellence  or  the  cheapness  of 
artistic  production.  Mr.  Seward,  fancying  a  carving  of  sandal-wood 
suitable  for  a  door-way,  valued  it  at  three  hundred  dollars.  It  was 
offered  him  at  sixteen  ! 

It  can  hardly  be  believed  that  the  extensive  manufacture  of 
silks  in  China  is  carried  on  without  the  use  of  the  "  Jacquard  " 
loom.  The  workshop  is  without  a  floor.  The  primitive  hand- 
loom,  with  the  operator's  bench,  is  placed  in  an  excavation.  They 
insist  here  that  the  moisture  of  the  ground  imparts  a  porcelain  gloss 
to  the  silk.  Silk-embroidery  is  the  most  important  manufacture. 
This  toilsome  and  exhausting  labor  is  performed  exclusively  by 
men,  instead  of  being  devolved  on  delicate  women,  as  in  European 
countries.  "We  bought,  at  nominal  prices,  articles  which  would 
have  a  fabulous  value  at  home. 

Lacquer-ware  is  made,  though  less  extensively  than  in  Japan. 
This  is  the  process :  A  frame  of  the  required  article  is  made  of  thin 
wood  or  veneering  perfectly  seasoned.  This  frame  is  covered  inside 
and  out  with  soft  silk-paper,  made  to  adhere  smoothly  by  use  of  a 
glutinous  solution.  When  the  paper  has  perfectly  dried,  a  coating 
of  pulverized  granite,  mixed  in  a  fine  oil,  is  spread  over  the  surface. 
This  granite  paste  hardens  in  its  turn,  and  now  the  process  of 
lacquering  begins.  The  lacquer  is  a  vegetable  juice  imported  from 
India  in  earthen  jars,  and,  when  fresh,  is  milk-white  ;  when  exposed 
to  the  air,  it  thickens  and  becomes  black.  It  is  applied  with  a 
brush  and  left  to  dry.  IS"©  less  than  eight  successive  coats  are  put 
on,  sometimes  more.  The  Chinese,  in  speaking  of  a  fool,  use  the 
proverb  that  "  he  wants  the  ninth  coating  of  lacquer."  After  the 
lacquering  is  completed,  the  ornamentation,  usually  in  vermilion 
and  gold,  takes  place.  Professional  artists  make  the  designs  in 
perforated  paper. 


THE  TEMPLE  OF  THE  DEAGON".  239 

A  large  district  in  the  city  is  devoted  to  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  ornaments  in  jade.  A  Chinese  gallant,  speaking  of  a  lady, 
says  she  is  "  as  beautiful  as  jade."  We  failed  to  understand  the 
secret  of  its  value  until  informed  of  the  firmness  of  its  texture.  A 
piece  of  this  stone,  weighing  five  pounds,  has  the  dull  appearance 
of  a  common  pebble.  It  is  sawed  into  plates  of  the  required  thick- 
ness by  the  use  of  a  fine  wire  moved  by  hand.  After  this,  turning- 
lathes  and  lapidaries'  instruments  are  employed.  With  these  it  is 
shaped  into  finger-rings,  ear-rings,  bracelets,  bangles,  buckles,  cups, 
vases,  and  the  like.  The  best  jade  is  that  which  shades  from  milky 
white  to  clear  green. 

We  notice  that  women  of  the  higher  class  wear  a  kind  of  orna- 
ment peculiar  to  Canton.  It  consists  of  a  head-dress  or  cap,  brace- 
lets or  finger-rings,  made  of  filagree  gold,  delicately  enamelled  -with 
the  blue  kingfisher's  feathers,  and  heavily  studded  with  pearls  and 
gems. 

Among  temples,  we  visited  first  that  of  Pak-tai  (the  Dragon),  a 
Taouistic  deity.  The  dragon  is  one  of  the  sacred  emblems  of  China. 
Before  that  emblem  stands  a  shrine,  and  below  this  a  living  rep- 
resentative of  the  monster  in  the  shape  of  a  pretty  little  bright- 
green  snake,  which  coils  in  the  branches  of  a  dwarfed  tree,  cultivated 
in  a  small  garden-vase.  Incense  is  offered  equally  on  the  shrine 
of  the  carved  dragon,  and  before  the  living  representation  in  the 
tree.  The  offerings  are  such  as  the  snake  does  not  disdain,  but 
such  as  the  fabled  dragon  perhaps  might  not  thank  his  votaries  for. 
They  consist  of  tea  and  eggs.  When  merchants  contract  partner- 
ships, or  masters  and  apprentices  execute  indentures,  they  bring 
engrossed  copies  of  the  covenants,  and  burn  them  with  incense 
under  the  tree.  In  this  way  they  bring  the  contents  of  the  articles 
to  the  notice  of  the  god  for  his  approval  and  blessing.  When  the 
contracts  have  been  fully  performed,  the  parties  come  again  to  the 
presence  of  the  sacred  snake,  and  with  solemn  religious  ceremony 
declare  mutual  acquittal  and  satisfaction.  "  Holy  water  "  is  con- 
stantly kept  in  vases,  from  which  it  is  carried  away  in  phials  for  the 
curing  of  diseases.  When  a  second  affliction  falls  on  a  bereaved 
family,  it  indicates  that  the  grave  of  the  deceased  relation  is  an 


240 


JAPAN,   CHINA,  AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 


unlucky  one.  In  that  case  tlie  bones  are  exhumed  and  washed  in 
this  water,  and  then  removed  to  a  more  hospitable  sepulchre.  From 
this  temple  we  passed  into  a  long  street  in  which  every  shop-win- 
dow is  filled  with  bars  of  bullion,  fans,  hats,  shoes,  and  garments 
of  every  pattern  cut  from  fancy-colored  paper,  and  put  up  in  pack- 
ages with  a  prayer  impressed  on  each  packet.  These  parcels  are 
sold  to  mourners,  who  bm*n  them  in  incense  before  the" shrine,  be- 
lieving that  in  this  way  they  convey  to  the  departed  friends  the 
material  substances  of  which  the  paper  articles  are  the  imitation. 

Of  the  Buddhist  temples,  the  most  celebrated  is  the  Honan. 
It  is,  with  its  extensive  monastery,  called  also  the  Temple  of  the 
"  Ocean  Banner;"  but  why  the  "Ocean  Banner,"  we  cannot  con- 
jecture.    Spacious  areas  here  are  occupied  by  "  sacred  "  pigs,  goats, 


ENTRANCE   TO   THE   TEMPLE   OF   IIONAN. 


THE   TEMPLE   OF  THE   FLO  WEE  Y  FOREST.  241 

slieep,  cliickens,  ducks,  and  geese.  Notwithstanding  the  reverential 
devotion  which  the  monks  show  to  these  animals,  the  idle  boys  w^ho 
followed  us  into  the  temple  took  a  wicked  delight  in  "  stirring  up  " 
the  fat,  holy  swine  with  pike-staves,  and  making  them  grunt  for 
our  entertainment.  The  monks  have  separate  cloisters,  and,  besides 
these,  one  spacious  and  common  hall,  which,  ha\ang  undergone 
some  special  form  of  consecration,  is  regarded  as  an  auspicious 
chamber  for  the  departure  of  the  soul  in  death.  Wlien  a  brother's 
last  hour  is  supposed  to  be  near,  he  is  brought  to  this  chamber, 
possibly  with  the  unintentional  effect  of  hastening  his  entrance  to 
anticipated  bliss.  Not  far  from  this  happy  death-chamber  is  a 
sanctified  and  auspicious  charnel-house.  The  body  deposited  in 
this  lucky  vault  remains  here  in  waiting  until  Buddha,  being  con- 
sulted, indicates  a  lucky  day  for  the  ceremony  of  cremation.  Be- 
yond the  charnel-house  is  a  furnace  in  which  the  process  is  con- 
ducted. The  ashes  are  gathered  in  a  vase,  and  are  deposited  with 
others  in  a  temporary  mausoleum.  When  the  fulness  of  time  has 
arrived,  and  an  auspicious  day  has  come,  the  vase  is  emptied  into 
a  common  sarcophagus,  and  so  the  funeral-rites  are  at  last  ended. 

Leaving  the  "  Ocean  Banner,"  we  visited  the  Temple  of  the 
"Flowery  Forest."  Its  pantheon  contains  images  not  only  of  gods 
of  whom  the  Greeks  or  Eomans  never  dreamed,  but  of  more  gods 
than  they  ever  worshipped.  Think  of  five  hundred  colossal  wooden 
figures,  of  all  complexions,  black,  white,  and  red,  with  distorted 
features  and  limbs,  and  dressed  in  purple,  crimson,  and  gold,  sitting 
in  close  order  around  the  walls  of  a  saloon,  equal  to  the  largest  in 
the  British  Museum.  These  are  the  guardian  genii  of  China. 
Each  is  a  deified  apostle  or  saint  of  the  religion.  These  figures 
were  presented  to  the  monastery  by  one  of  the  emperors,  and  per- 
haps all  were  carved  by  one  artist.  J£  he  failed  to  impart  a  natural 
human  expression  to  any  among  them,  it  must  be  admitted  in  his 
favor  that,  in  their  hideous  distortions,  no  two  are  alike.  We  were 
kindly  received  by  the  monks.  The  abbot,  a  man  of  reverend 
mien,  wears  purple,  a  cap  which  might  be  mistaken  for  a  mitre,  and 
a  staif  in  the  shape  of  a  crozier.  As  we  came  in  advance  of  the 
evening  service,  they  entertained  us  in  the  spacious  comt  with 


242  JAPAN,   CHINA,  AND  COCHIN  CHINA. 

delicious  tea  and  dried  fruits.  The  brethren  showed  by  their  con- 
versation a  vague  knowledge  of  foreign  countries.  They  feared 
that  the  disasters  which  have  befallen  France  may  encourage  Rus- 
sian aggression  against  China.  They  understand  something  of  the 
great  civil  war  in  the  United  States,  and  rejoice  in  its  results. 
While  we  were  thus  engaged,  a  group  of  ladies  exquisitely  dressed, 
and  having  the  least  of  all  feet,  came  into  the  court  accompanied  by 
many  children.  This  party  was  followed  by  a  retinue  of  well- 
dressed  servants,  bearing  large  ornamented  paper  boxes,  filled  with 
votive  offerings,  paper  shoes,  fans,  and  hats,  as  before  described. 
They  were  waiting  until  the  midnight  hour,  to  bum  these  offerings 
in  incense  for  the  repose  and  cheer  of  deceased  ancestors.  Although 
the  women  made  no  mirthful  demonstration,  they  were  animated 
and  cheerful,  seeming  to  regard  the  ceremony  in  which  they  were 
engaged  rather  as  a  festal  than  a  funereal  one.  They  made  no 
advances  to  us,  but  showed  much  delight  with  the  caresses  we 
bestowed  on  their  pretty  children. 

At  the  service,  the  monks  kindly  seated  Mr.  Seward  on  a  wooden 
bench,  the  only  thing  of  the  kind  in  the  temple,  in  a  good  position 
to  see  the  ceremony.  The  hall  of  worship  is  sixty  feet  square,  with 
a  lofty  ceiling.  In  its  centre,  a  gigantic,  triple- carved  statue,  in  a 
sitting  posture,  representing  Buddha  in  his  three  "  states  " — the  face 
looking  to  the  left,  symbolic  of  oblivion,  or  the  past^  that  looking 
forward,  expressive  of  activity,  ihepi^esent  /  the  third,  looking  to  the 
right,  contemplation,  or  the  future.  The  "  Flowery  Forest,"  then, 
is  a  temple  dedicated  to  a  religion,  older  than  our  own,  which  pre- 
sents, in  a  vague,  misty  way,  two  of  the  principles  of  the  Christian 
Church  :  one,  the  incarnation  of  the  Supreme ;  the  other.  His  pres- 
entation in  three  persons,  one  and  indivisible.  Are  these  analo- 
gies merely  accidental  coincidences,  or  are  they  different  outgrowths 
of  the  same  innate  ideas,  or  are  they  shadowy  fomis  of  a  common 
revelation?  The  service  consisted  in  a  solemn,  measured,  and  de- 
votional intonation  of  a  long  and  varied  liturgy.  Occasionally,  a 
bell  tinkled,  to  indicate  a  change  in  the  order  of  the  prayers.  At 
this  sound,  the  monks  prostrated  themselves,  and  brought  their 
foreheads  to  the  ground.     At  other  times,  they  changed  their  pos- 


THE  TEMPLE   OF  LONGEVITY.  243 

tures  toTvard  tlie  triune  image,  or  walked  in  solemn  procession 
around  it,  keeping  time  to  a  muffled  drum  and  gong.  Offerings 
are  made  of  wheat,  rice,  and  millet.  These  being  deemed  now 
consecrated,  they  were,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  ceremony,  conveyed 
in  a  tripod,  and  scattered  over  the  paved  court  of  the  temple,  that 
they  might  be  gathered  by  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  so  be  saved 
from  human  profanation.  The  temple  contains  a  very  fine  dagoba 
of  white  marble,  built  over  a  relic  of  a  former  incarnate  Buddha. 
Its  pedestal,  a  lower  story,  is  ornamented  with  various  allegorical 
tablets,  on  which  Buddha  is  represented  riding  here  on  a  dragon, 
there  on  a  lion,  and  elsewhere  on  other  animals.  Heathen  deities, 
as  we  come  among  them,  seem  to  ns  to  be  rather  impersonations 
of  ideal  conditions  of  human  existence,  than  spiritual  conceptions 
of  a  superior  order  of  beings. 

There  is  a  temple  dedicated  to  "  Longevity."  The  idol,  a  colos- 
sal figure,  badly  carved  in  wood,  and  painted  very  red  and  very 
brown,  represents  an  obese,  contented,  and  lazy  old  man.  This 
temple  has  a  monastery  of  extraordinary  character.  Instead  of 
cloisters  of  masonry,  the  cells  are  trees  ;  and,  instead  of  shaven 
monks,  the  brotherhood  is  a  family  of  storks,  which,  daily  fed  by  the 
attendants,  live  out  their  long-appointed  days,  objects  of  reverence 
and  affection.  The  stork  which  has  the  luck  to  be  dedicated  to 
"  Longe\nty  "  is  a  happy  bird.  What  a  contrast  is  his  to  the  case 
of  the  gold-fish,  only  bred  and  fattened,  in  the  ponds  of  the  temple 
of  the  same  god,  to  become  the  food  of  the  "  holy  "  stork ! 

Whatever  doubts  there  may  be  about  the  justice  of  the  Chinese 
claim  to  the  invention  of  printing,  it  is  pleasant  to  record  that  they 
have  done  honor  to  the  art  of  arts  by  dedicating  to  it  shrines, 
tablets,  and  vases  of  incense. 

Our  survey  of  the  religious  institutions  closed  with  a  visit  to  a 
convent  of  Buddhist  nuns,  devoted  to  the  care  of  the  ^ick.  The 
superior  and  the  sisterhood  received  ns  kindly.  Although  illiterate, 
they  are  industrious,  tidy,  gentle,  and  prepossessing.  They  showed 
us  not  only  the  meagre  hospital  wards,  but  their  own  very  humble 
cells.  After  all,  charity  is  an  essential  element  of  every  religion, 
and  woman  is  its  truest  minister  throughout  the  world. 


CHAPTEK    XYI. 

CANTON  {Continued). 

« 

A  Chinese  Villa. — The  Hall  of  Ancestors. — A  Chinese  School-Room. — Another  Yilla. — 
An  Opium-Den. — Extent  of  Opium-Smoking. — The  Chinese  Chronometer. — The 
Street  of  Malefactors. — The  Place  of  Execution. — A  City  of  the  Dead. — Canton 
at  Night. 

Canton,  December  SOth. — This  morning,  without  previous  in\^- 
tation  or  notice,  our  reverend  guide  ushered  us  into  the  villa  of  a 
Chinese  gentleman,  Poon-ting-gua.  It  covers  several  acres,  en- 
closed with  a  solid  granite  wall.  Chinese  ladies  with  their  children 
received  us  graciously.  The  mansion  has  a  spacious  theatre,  taste- 
fully arranged,  for  private  entertainments,  many  pretty  boudoirs, 
and  a  spacious  banqueting-hall.  After  this,  we  visited  the  still 
more  ambitious  dwelHng  of  the  mandarin  Lee,  now  exercising  the 
office  of  Taou-tai  in  the  province  of  Chin-Kiang.  This  residence 
contains  a  noble  Hall  of  Ancestors,  which,  although  it  opens  on 
one  side  to  the  sky,  resembles  very  nmch  the  old  Eepresentative 
Hall  in  the  Capitol  at  Washington.  The  Ancestral  Hall  is  the 
chapel  used  for  daily  family  worship  of  the  gods,  as  well  as  of  the 
ancestors.  The  hall  is  purely  Confucian  in  idea.  A  shrine  in  the 
centre  supports  a  tablet  on  which  the  names  of  the  ancestors  are 
inscribed.  Large  crimson  banners  are  suspended  from  the  walls, 
which  contain,  in  embroidery,  their  likenesses,  as  well  as  those  of 
the  family,  with  heraldic  insignia  or  emblems.  The  Ancestral 
Hall,  moreover,  is  the  judgment-chamber  or  tribunal  in  which 
family  courts  are  held.     At  these  courts  all  births  are  recorded, 


A  GAEDEI^  IN  CANTOK 


245 


marriage-contracts  celebrated,  and  all  disputes  are  adjusted.  In 
anticipation  of  his  last  hour,  the  head  of  the  house  is  brought  to  the 
Ancestral  Hall  to  die,  expecting  an  unobstructed  passage  thence 


rOON-TING-GUA  S    VILLA. 


to  the  realms  above.  After  his  death,  his  will  is  published  in  the 
same  chamber.  This  hall  is  brilliantly  furnished  with  European 
lamps,  clocks,  and  mirrors.  On  the  present  occasion,  the  altar  or 
tablet  was  graced  with  a  porcelain  salver,  on  which  rested  a  cold 
roast-pig,  weighing  fifteen  or  twenty  pounds.  The  dish  was  flanked 
with  conserves,  cakes,  and  flowers.  A  daughter  of  the  house,  mar- 
ried three  days  ago,  comes  in  procession  to-day,  to  pay  her  parting 
visit  to  her  family,  and  these  were  the  offerings  to  ancestors  pro- 
vided for  the  celebration  of  this  important  domestic  event.  At  the 
conclusion  of  the  ceremony,  in  such  cases,  the  oblations  are  distrib- 
uted among  the  servants  of  the  tamily. 


246  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

"We  were  particularly  interested  in  the  scliool-room,  where  the 
boys  are  educated ;  the  girls  are  not  educated  at  all.  With  its 
arrangement  of  tables,  desks,  black-board,  books,  and  slates,  the 
apartment  might  be  mistaken  for  a  school-room  at  home.  All  the 
pupils  read  the  lessons  of  every  sort  aloud,  and  all  at  once,  and 
commit  them  to  memory.  The  pedagogue  differs  but  little,  except 
in  dress,  from  the  school-master  the  world  over.  The  master  in  this 
present  school  is  an  ingenuous  as  well  as  a  spirited  man.  The 
instrument  of  his  discipline  laid  on  his  desk,  and  he  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  admit  that  he  frequently  employs  it,  believing  probably  in 
Solomon's  instruction,  "he  that  spareth  his  rod,  hateth  his  son." 
The  Chinese  boys  have  all  the  natural  manner  and  modesty  of  well- 
bred  children.  One  bright-eyed  little  lad  of  eight  years,  with  great 
reverence,  asked  Mr.  Seward's  "  honorable  age." 

We  were  received  by  another  family,  in  a  very  spacious  villa 
near  the  Honan.  We  noticed,  with  some  surprise,  here,  the  im- 
jpluvium^  rendered  so  famous  by  the  descriptions  of  Pompeii.  Is  it 
likely  that  the  Chinese  have  preserved  a  feature  of  villa  architecture 
which  the  Western  nations  have  lost  ?  The  proprietor  and  the  ladies 
of  his  family  conducted  us  through  their  sumptuous  abode,  with 
perfect  refinement  of  manner,  betraying  not  the  least  shyness  or 
curiosity. 

The  tea-house  in  Canton  holds  the  place  of  the  ale-house,  cafe, 
or  restaurant,  in  European  cities.  Eich  and  poor  promiscuously 
gather  there,  and  are  served  without  respect  of  persons. 

In  returning  from  the  villa,  we  opened  a  narrow  door  and  made 
our  way  through  a  dark  passage  to  a  suite  of  small  rooms,  faintly 
lighted  from  the  roof.  The  seclusion,  darkness,  and  silence  of  the 
place,  indicated  that  something  furtive  was  going  on  there.  On 
either  side  of  a  long  chamber  was  a  dais  divided  into  sections,  in 
each  section  two  men  reclining  vis-d-ms — between  them  a  minia- 
ture table  six  inches  high.  We  were  in  an  opium-den,  and  these 
persons  were  the  victims.  Before  each  of  the  smokers,  on  the 
table,  rested  a  pipe,  a  tiny  opium-pot,  and  a  burning  lamp.  Here, 
as  in  the  tea-house,  there  is  no  respect  of  rank  or  wealth.  The 
poor  and  the  rich  lie  down  together.     Each  assists  the  other  in  the 


OPIUM-SMOKEES. 


2J:7 


delicate  task  of  igniting  the  opium,  and  filling  the  bowl  of  the  pipe. 
We  spoke  to  tvro  or  three  of  the  smokers,  who  were  only  at  the 
beginning  of  the  siesta,  and  received  from  them  respectful  and 
We  tried  in  vain  to  rouse  others  to  consciousness. 


gentle  answers. 


who  were  in  the  stage  of  blissful  reverj,  although  their  eyes  were 


OPHTM-SMOKEES. 


open,  and  they  were  sadly  smiling.  When  the  smoker  recovers 
from  the  inebriation,  if  he  has  sufficient  strength  he  repairs  home ; 
otherwise,  he  is  removed  to  another  apartment,  and  remains  there 
perhaps  twenty-four  hours,  recovering  strength  to  depart.     Was  it 


% 


248  JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

an  imagination  of  ours  that  the  keeper  of  this  hell  wore  a  base  and 
sinister  look  as  he  stood  behind  his  counter  in  a  dark  closet,  sur- 
rounded by  packages  of  the  pernicious  drug,  which  he  weighed  out 
to  his  customers  a  pennyweight  of  opium  against  a  pennyweight 
of  silver  ? 

The  books  we  have  read  at  home,  and  the  discussions  we  have 
heard  here  as  well  as  there,  have  prepared  us  to  see  the  disastrous 
effect  of  opium-smoking  on  every  side  in  China.  The  denunciation 
of  the  practice  is  justified  by  all-sufficient  proof  that  it  is  destructive 
of  physical  and  intellectual  energy.  Statistics  show  a  vast  increase 
of  the  consumption  of  the  drug,  since  its  free  importation  has  been 
allowed.  The  Chinese  Government  has  given  its  sanction  to  the 
wide-spread  denunciation  by  its  persistent  and  earnest  opposition 
to  the  opium-trade.  We  are  agreeably  disappointed,  however,  by 
the  absence  of  evidence  of  the  evil  fruits  of  the  practice  which  we 
had  anticipated.  Except  in  this  den  where  we  purposely  went  to 
seek  the  vice  and  its  victims,  we  have  not  met,  in  any  part  of  the 
country,  a  person  of  either  sex,  or  of  any  age,  whose  appearance, 
conversation  or  conduct,  indicated  an  excessive  indulgence.  Euro- 
peans and  Amei'icans  here  agree  in  representing  the  practice  as 
wide-spread  and  pernicious,  but,  when  interrogated  concerning 
their  observation,  they  assure  you  that  they  know  of  a  coolie,  a 
house-servant,  a  mechanic,  a  clerk,  perhaps  a  trader,  who  has 
become  inefficient  or  unreliable  by  the  indulgence.  But  the  best- 
informed  persons  agree  that  .cases  of  this  kind  are  neither  more 
frequent  nor  more  extensive  than  those  of  habitual  alcoholic  intem- 
perance in  the  United  States.  Moreover,  we  are  inclined  to  think 
that  the  cost  of  the  drug,  when  balanced  against  the  low  wages  of 
labor,  lifts  the  abuse  beyond  the  reach  of  the  working-classes. 

In  the  matter  of  the  regulation  of  time,  the  Chinese  do  not  keep 
up  with  Western  science.  There  is  a  tower  here  devoted  to  that 
purpose.  Each  hour  is  announced  in  a  printed  placard  posted  on 
the  outer  wall.  The  chronometer,  however,  which  is  used  in  the 
tower,  is  a  water-clock,  the  clumsy  clepsydra  of  ancient  Greece. 

A  branch  staircase  from  the  Time-Tower  brought  us  to  the 
government  printing-office,  which  publishes  all  official  documents, 


A  CHINESE  ACELDAMA.  249  ■ 

including  a  copy  of  the  Peking  Gazette.  None  of  our  modern 
improvements  are  used.  The  carving  of  the  wooden  type,  the 
spreading  of  the  India-ink  over  them,  the  taking  of  the  impression, 
all  are  done  by  hand. 

The  Chinese  Government  is  based  on  two  fictions :  first,  that 
the  emperor  is  the  Son  of  Heaven ;  second,  that  he  is  the  parent  of 
the  Chinese  people.  In  harmony  with  these  principles,  loyalty  to 
the  state  is  inculcated  not  only  as  a  religious  but  as  a  filial  duty. 
But  all  sentimental  fictions  are  liable  to  abuse,  equally  in  politics 
and  religion.  The  code  of  Draco  was  not  more  cruel  than  the 
parental  discipline  of  the  Chinese  empire.  Passing  by  the  palace 
of  the  Taou-tai,  with  its  ostentatious  imperial  banners,  we  turned  a 
sharp  corner,  and  entered  a  long,  narrow,  cheerless  street.  Here, 
no  gay  sign-boards  or  banners  relieved  the  night.  The  shops  are 
sombre,  and  there  are  few  travellers.  It  is  the  malefactor  road — 
the  street  through  which  the  condemned  convicts  pass,  from  the 
palace  to  the  place  of  execution.  It  was  almost  night  when  we 
were  admitted,  under  a  strong  but  low  gateway,  to  a  close  area  a 
hundred  feet  long,  scarcely  more  than  twenty  feet  wide ;  on  one 
side  low  stone-buildings ;  on  the  other  a  high  blind  wall ;  a  walk 
paved  with  large  fiat  stones  in  the  middle  of  the  court.  A  potter 
was  noiselessly  at  work  shaping  vessels,  some  to  be  used  for  re- 
ceiving the  blood,  others  the  hands  and  feet,  and  others  the  heads 
of  the  victims.  Sometimes  only  a  single  execution  takes  place,  but 
usually  short  delays  are  made  for  the  convenience  of  bringing  sev- 
eral executions  together.  They  vary  in  number  from  two  to  fifty, 
and,  in  times  of  political  disturbance  or  flagrant  piracy,  fifty  and 
even  a  hundred  executions  take  place  at  once.  Dr.  Grrey,  who 
has  studied  Chinese  history  carefully,  is  of  opinion  that  no  field  of 
battle  ancient  or  modern  has  witnessed  so  much  violent  destruction 
of  human  life  as  this  Aceldama.  The  customary  form  is  decapita- 
tion. When  the  condemned  come  within  the  gate,  they  march  up 
the  paved  walk  and  take  their  places,  kneeling  inward  on  either 
side.  An  imperial  officer  at  the  upper  end  of  the  court  reads,  in  a 
distinct  voice,  a  rescript  of  their  names,  crimes,  and  sentences.  A 
practised  executioner,  with  a  long  sword  which  he  wields  with  both 


•250  JAPAI^,   CHINA,   AND  COCHIN  CHINA. 

hands,  proceeds  down  tlie  line.  The  culprits  stretching  their  necks 
forward,  the  executioner,  swinging  the  instrument  in  continued 
circles,  completely  severs  a  head  at  every  blow.  The  heads  fall 
into  vases  filled  with  lime ;  nevertheless  the  pavement  is  besmeared 
with  blood,  and  the  effluvia  rising  from  this  horrible  place  taint 
the  atmosphere  of  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  city.  We  saw 
crosses  leaning  against  the  wall,  prepared  for  inflicting  punishment 
in  that  form,  and  many  baskets,  each  of  which  contained  a  head 
ready  to  be  transported  to  the  city  gates,  and  to  distant  parts  of  the 
empire. 

The  scene  we  next  visited  is  one  which,  although  sad  and 
solemn,  is  touching  and  beautiful.  This  is  an  extensive  plain, 
ornamented  with  gardens  and  lakes,  fragrant  with  flowers,  and 
musical  with  the  songs  of  birds.  It  is  the  temporary  resting-place 
of  the  dead  while  awaiting — a  day  or  many  days,  a  month  or  many 
months,  a  year  or  many  years — an  auspicious  time  and  place  for 
final  interment.  This  city  of  the  dead  is  divided  into  blocks,  and 
traversed  by  rectilinear  paved  streets.  Instead  of  dwellings,  the 
squares  are  covered  with  charnel-houses,  and  these  are  already 
numbered  by  thousands.  They  are  built  of  stone,  and  kept  with 
perfect  cleanliness  and  order.  The  charnel-houses,  one  story  high, 
are  divided  into  two  apartments — the  front,  a  reception-hall  with 
tablets  and  an  altar,  before  which  a  lamp  continually  burns,  and  on 
which  ofterings  of  tea,  fruit,  and  flowers  are  daily  renewed.  This 
room  is  occupied  by  the  relations  of  the  deceased,  generally  sons  or 
daughters,  who  console  the  dead  not  only  by  day,  but  through  the 
long  watches  of  the  night.  A  couch  or  divan  along  the  wall  serves 
for  their  repose.  In  the  inner  chamber  rest  the  unburied,  or  the 
exhumed  remains  enclosed  in  a  costly  carved  coffin,  covered  with 
a  magnificent  purple  or  scarlet  pall.  Around  the  coffin  are  figures 
or  statues,  either  carved,  or  of  porcelain,  which,  gayly  dressed  and 
bearings  fans  or  cups,  are  ministering  to  the  wants  of  the  sleeping 
dead.  When  a  stranger  dies  in  Canton,  information  is  conveyed 
to  his  friends,  however  distant.  His  remains  rest  here  until  prep- 
arations for  his  interment  have  been  made,  in  the  part  of  the  em- 
pire where  he  lived.     The  "  city  of  the  dead,"  like  our  cemeteries, 


NIGHT  ASPECT  OF  CANTON.  251 

is  under  the  care  of  an  association,  and  its  expenses  are  defrayed 
by  charges  regulated  by  tariff. 

It  was  quite  nine  o'clock,  a  star-lit  night,  when  we  emerged 
from  this  silent,  mysterious  place — the  only  one  we  have  ever  seen 
in  which,  though  it  is  devoted  to  the  dead,  cheerfulness  and  hope 
prevail  over  gloom  and  despondency.  We  passed  through  a  series 
of  graves  which  surround  it,  starting  a  thousand  storks,  which  kept 
watch  and  ward  over  the  cemetery.  These  birds  have  a  peculiar 
adaptation  to  sacred  places.  They  rest  always  on  one  leg,  the  head 
turned  backward  under  the  wing.  Their  utterances  are  made  by 
clapping  their  mandibles  together  like  a  pair  of  castanets.  Our 
coolies  bore  burning  lamps.  They  carried  us  very  quickly  across  a 
rude,  uninhabited  plain,  which,  by  reason  of  its  vicinity  to  the  city, 
we  expected  to  find  a  scene  of  disorder  and  peril.  Our  experience 
is  that  neither  assassin  nor  robber  of  any  kind,  by  night  or  by  day, 
awaits  the  sojourner  in  Canton.  We  occasionally  stopped  to  inquire 
the  significance  of  a  candle  burning  in  the  grass  near  the  roadside, 
and  before  which  lay  offerings  of  tea,  wheat,  fruit,  or  millet.  The 
explanation  was,  that  some  person,  passing  the  place,  had  stumbled 
or  met  with  other  accident,  the  mischievous  work  of  some  discon- 
tented spirit  or  demon.  The  light  and  the  offerings  are  designed 
to  propitiate  him. 

The  night  aspect  of  Canton  is  one  of  quiet  and  peace.  All 
shops,  stores,  and  manufactories,  are  closely  shut ;  only  here  and 
there  a  paper  lantern  dangles  from  the  eaves,  before  the  house  of  a 
mandarin  or  a  wealthy  denizen.  The  tread  of  the  foot-passenger  is 
only  occasionally  heard,  and  there  are  no  processions,  groups,  or 
crowds.  Light  streams  through  the  crevices  of  the  dwellings,  and 
often  the  clink  of  the  anvil  and  the  sound  of  the  hammer  indicate 
that  the  inhabitants  have  only  withdrawn  from  the  operations  of 
sale  in  which  they  were  engaged  during  the  day,  to  manufacture 
new  articles  to  sell  to-morrow.  Earely,  very  rarely,  one  may  hear 
the  mellow  tones  of  a  flute,  but  never  in  any  part  of  the  city  does 
there  arise  the  sound  of  debauch  or  revelry.  A  gentle  rap  by  our 
conductor  brought  to  the  postern  the  keeper-  of  each  of  the  numer- 
ous gates  through  which  we  had  to  pass.     A  kind  word  assured  us 

20 


252 


JAPAN,   CHINA,  AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 


that  he  was  prepared  for  onr  coming,  and  was  interested  for  our 
safety.  Moving  on  so  quietly  in  our  chairs,  we  had  fallen  into 
the  dreamy  state  of  contemplation  ascribed  to  Buddha,  Avhen  the 
last  of  the  city-gates,  the  gate  of  "  Everlasting  Peace,"  lifted  its 
head  and  allowed  us  to  pass  under  the  door  of  hospitable  "Kee- 
Chung." 


'^^-'^m^'^^?^^<^: 


CHLNEBE  TOMBS. 


0 
0 

6 

0 

X 


w 


CHAPTER  XYII. 

AT  HONG-KONG    AGAIN. 

Chinese  Emigration  to  the  United  States. — The  Canton  Fisheries. — American  Houses  in 
China. — A  Combination  of  Gamblers. — A  Dinner  at  the  United  States  Consulate. — 
Mr.  Seward's  Speech. — Oriental  and  Eastern  Civilization. — Policy  of  China. — Pros- 
pects of  phina. 

Hong-Kong,  January  1,  1871. — The  Kin-San,  on  lier  return- 
voyage,  besides  ourselves,  had  three  cabin-passengers,  all  merchants 
of  Macao.  She  had  four  hundred  in  the  steerage :  one  hundred 
and  fifty  of  them  Chinese  traders  between  Canton  and  Hong-Kong; 
the  others,  voluntary  Chinese  emigrants  going  to  ship  at  Hong- 
Kong  for  San  Francisco.  The  Chinese  emigration  to  the  United 
States  goes  exclusively  from  the  province  of  Quan-Tong  (Canton) 
through  the  port  of  Canton.  The  Chinese  emigration  to  other 
American  countries,  the  West  Indies,  and  South  America,  goes 
from  the  same  province,  but  through  the  Portuguese  port  of  Macao. 
The  laws  of  the  United  States,  which  require  consular  examination 
and  a  certificate  in  each  case  that  the  emigi*ation  is  voluntary, 
and  made  on  sufiicient  guarantee,  have  proved  entirely  eft'ective  in 
preventing  abduction,  fraud,  and  violence.  The  emigrant  to  the 
United  States  is  contented  and  cheerful.  It  is  not  so,  however, 
with  the  emigrant  who  embarks  at  Macao.  The  system  of  abduc- 
tion prevailing  there  is  an  abomination  scarcely  less  execrable  than 
the  African  slave-trade.  The  emigrants  are  promiscuously  taken 
by  fraud  and  force ;  ignorant  of  their  destination,  and  without  secu- 


254  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND  COCHIN   CHINA. 

rity  for  tlieii*  labor  or  tlieir  freedom,  they  are  liurried  on  board  sail- 
ing-craft. These  vessels  are  bnilt  in  the  United  States,  and  they 
appear  at  Macao  under  the  United  States  flag,  promising  to  convey 
the  emigrants  to  our  country.  So  soon  as  they  have  cleared  the ' 
port,  they  hoist  the  colors  of  Peru,  San  Salvador,  or  some  other 
Spanish- American  state.  It  is  when  this  fraud  is  discovered  that 
scenes  of  mutiny  and  murder  occur,  of  which  we  have  such  frequent 
and  frightful  accounts.  It  shall  not  be  our  fault  if,  in  the  cause  of 
humanity,  the  United  States  Government  is  not  informed  of  this 
great  outrage  against  our  national  honor, 

Chinese  versatility  has  a  fine  illustration  in  the  Canton  fisheries. 
On  either  side  of  our  steamer,  as  we  came  down  the  river,  was  a 
tub  or  cistern  holding  five  hundred  gallons  of  water.  The  water 
contained  great  quantities  of  living  fish  produced  in  ponds  in 
the  vicinity  of  Canton.  Arriving  at  the  wharf  here,  a  sluice  was 
opened  at  the  bottom  of  each  cistern,  and  the  fish,  rushing  out  with 
the  rapid  current,  dropped  into  smaller  tubs,  and  were  conveyed 
either  to  market,  or  to  ships  going  to  sea. 

January  2d. — We  are  pleased  with  the  reassurance  we  receive 
here  from  home,  that  a  semi-monthly  line  of  steamers  is  to  be 
established  by  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company.  This  line 
is  a  development  of  enterprise  which,  though  noiseless,  is  extend- 
ing the  American  name  and  influence  in  the  East. 

The  American  houses  in  China  are  as  follows : 

Eussell  &  Company,  witli  establishments  at  Shanghai,  Hong-Kong,  Canton, 
Foo-Choo,  Kiu-Kiang,  Han-Kow,  and  Tien-Tsin. 

Augustine  Heard  &  Company,  at  Shanghai,  Hong-Kong,  Canton,  and  Foo-Choo. 

Oliphant  &  Company,  at  Shanghai,  Hong-Kong,  Canton,  and  Foo-Choo. 

Bull,  Pardon  «fc  Company,  at  Shanghai,  Hong-Kong,  Canton,  and  Foo-Choo. 

Smith,  Archer,  &  Company,  at  Shanghai,  Hong-Kong,  and  Canton. 

Silas  E.  Burrows  &  Company,  at  Hong-Kong. 

E.  J.  Sage  &  Company,  at  Hong-Kong. 

H.  Fogg  &  Company,  at  Shanghai. 

A.  C.  Farnham  &  Company,  at  Shanghai. 

To  all  these  houses  our  grateful  acknowlegments — to  Eussell 


A  SPEECH  BY  MR.   SEWARD.  255 

&  Company,  the  most  full,  because  they  have  claimed  ns  as  their 
guests,  in  their  several  agencies  throughout  the  empire. 

Hong-Kong  has  a  social  grievance  unknown  in  the  United 
States,  except  in  the  new  States  and  Territories — a  villanous  combi- 
nation of  gamblers,  like  the  pests  of  the  same  kind  whose  atrocities 
stain  the  history  of  Vicksburg  and  San  Francisco.  The  judicial 
officers  confess  themselves  powerless  to  suppress  these  criminals. 

To-day  the  United  States  consul,  Mr.  Bailey,  entertained  Mr. 
Seward,  with  the  large  party  gathered  to  meet  him,  at  the  consulate. 
To  Mr.  Bailey's  speech  of  welcome,  Mr.  Seward  replied  as  follows : 

"  The  questions  which  engaged  the  American  people,  in  the 
period  to  which  you  have  so  kindly  referred,  were,  the  elimination 
of  slavery  from  the  United  States,  and  the  saving  of  the  republic 
from  dissolution.  Both  these  questions  were  at  last  decided  for  the 
right,  in  a  fearful  civil  war.  I  think  there  is  not  now  living,  on 
this  round  earth,  a  man  wdio,  even  though  he  Avas  then  a  sympa- 
thizer with  the  rebellion,  now  regrets  that  beneiicent  adjustment. 

"  Our  distinguished  statesman,  Daniel  Webster,  foresaw  only 
the  struggle.  His  utmost  confidence  in  the  happy  end  was  in  the 
expression  of  his  earnest  hope  that  his  dying  eyes  might  not  close 
on  a  dismembered,  a  disunited,  a  belligerent  republic.  On  us,  how- 
ever, who  have  survived  both  him  and  the  convulsion,  there  opens 
a  bright  and  glorious  prospect — it  is  the  spread  of  republican  insti- 
tutions over  the  whole  American  Continent,  involving  by  absolute 
necessity  a  regeneration  of  civilization  in  the  East.  The  United 
States  have  assumed  the  lead  in  this  great  work,  happily  with  the 
free  consent  and  approbation  of  all  the  European  nations. 

"  The  first  Emperor  of  the  French,  copying  from  Julius  Csesar, 
introduced,  in  our  time,  the  military  empire,  as  an  agency  for  con- 
quest. The  second  emperor  dedicated  it  to  peace  and  progress. 
Fortunately  for  mankind,  the  innovation  has  foiled  for  both  pur- 
poses. The  world  is  coming  to  realize,  on  the  contrary,  that  '  the 
repuhlic,^  that  is  to  say,  not  the  republic  of  former  ages,  but  the 
modern  republic  of  our  own  experience,  is  always  favorable  to  pros- 
perity and  progress,  and  is  everywhere  '  on  earth  peace,  good-will 
toward  men.' 


256  JAPAN",   CHINA,   AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

"  I  liave  been  long  engaged  studying  tlie  great  problem  of  mod- 
ern civilization.  In  doing  so,  I  have  travelled  largely  on  tbe  North 
American  Continent,  and,  with  tlie  same  object,  I  am  now  observing 
Asiatic  countries.  In  this  connection,  I  may  make  two  or  tbrec 
observations,  without  disloyalty  to  my  own  country,  or  to  China, 
and  without  offence  to  any  foreign  nation  represented  here.  I  do 
not  undervalue  missionary  labors  in  the  East,  but  the  Christian 
religion,  for  its  acceptance,  involves  some  intellectual  and  social  ad- 
vancement which  can  only  be  effected  through  international  com- 
merce. I  look,  therefore,  chiefly  to  commerce  for  the  regeneration 
of  China — that  commerce  to  come  across  the  American  Continent 
and  the  Pacific  Ocean.  I  lament  to  find,  in  every  part  of  China 
that  I  visit,  despondency  concerning  that  commerce,  which,  I  am 
sure,  is  not  entertained  in  the  United  States,  or  in  any  other  of  the 
Western  nations.  I  think  that  despondency  without  foundation. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  foreign  commerce,  which  penetrates  the 
northern,  the  central,  and  the  southern  regions  of  China,  is  firmly 
established  and  secured.  Not  one  of  the  footholds  which  have  been 
gained  can  ever  be  lost.  The  continuance  and  increase  of  that 
commerce  are  guaranteed  by  the  material,  moral,  social,  and  politi- 
cal necessities  of  both  continents. 

"  Say  what  men  may,  human  progress  is  compelled  by  the  laws 
of  Providence.  Obstacles,  indeed,  must  occur,  and  will  multiply 
resistance  here,  and  discussions  and  jealousies  in  the  West ;  but 
there  is  a  subtle  moral  opinion  Avhich  pervades  mankind,  before 
which,  sooner  or  later,  all  such  obstacles  disappear.  There  is  no 
assignable  measure  to  the  future  expa-nsions  of  this  intercontinental 
and  regenerating  commerce.  Although  its  movements  seem  to  us 
very  slow,  yet  there  are  abundant  evidences  that  it  is  neither  dying 
out  nor  retrograding.  The  daily  increasing  emigration  from  south- 
ern China  to  America,  and  to  the  Malay  Peninsula,  and  the  Oriental 
Archipelago,  is  a  guarantee  of  its  continuance.  That  emigration 
works  beneficially  in  three  ways :  the  navigation  employed  in  it 
sustains  commerce ;  it  relieves  an  overcrowded  population  of  sur- 
plus labor :  returning  emigrants  bring  back  not  only  wealth,  but 
arts,  knowledge,  and  morals,  to  renovate  their  native  country.     Let 


SPEECH  CONTINUED.  257 

it  be  our  task,  therefore,  to  stimulate  tliis  emigration.  It  is  essen- 
tial to  the  growth  of  international  commerce,  that  the  "Western 
states  practise  equal  justice  toward  China.  True  commerce  involves 
reciprocity,  not  exclusive  gain  on  either  side,  and  it  flourishes 
just  in  proportion  to  the  good  faith  and  equality  with  which  it  is 
conducted. 

"  Six  or  seven  years  ago,  the  Western  nations,  relinquishing 
individual  designs  of  aggrandizement  or  advantage  in  China,  were 
represented  by  enlightened  men,  among  whom  were  the  late  Mr. 
Burlingame,  Sir  Frederick  Bruce,  and  M.  Berthemy.  They  agreed 
in  recommending  to  their  several  states  the  policy  of  bringing  China 
into  equal  political  relations  with  all  the  Western  states.  The 
'  Burlingame '  treaty  was  the  fruit  of  these  counsels.  They  have 
only  to  be  pursued  in  good  faith,  to  work  the  best  results.  N^o  one 
now  doubts  of  the  renovation  of  Japan  ;  but  China,  with  its  four 
hundred  millions,  exhibits  more  signs  of  progress  to-day  than  Japan, 
with  its  thirty  or  forty  millions,  did  twenty  years  ago.  I  am  often 
asked  :  '  But  what  of  this  ancient  Chinese  Imperial  Government,  its 
extortions,  its  timidity,  its  effeteness,  and  of  this  national  prejudice, 
the  fruit  of  thousands  of  years  of  isolation  ? '  I  answer :  '  I  do  not 
know — no  one  knows.  I  only  know  that  imbecility  and  effeteness 
always  give  way  before  vigor  and  energy,  and  that  dotage  and 
prejudice  must  give  way  to  truth,  justice,  and  reason.  I  know  not 
what  political  changes  may  occur  here,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  I 
know  it  is  an  error  to  suppose  that  revolutions,  with  whatever  de- 
sign they  are  inaugurated,  retard  human  progress.'  I  used  all  the 
influence  I  had  to  prevent, the  late  revolution  in  Japan,  because  I 
thought  it  was  a  retrograde  movement ;  I  little  dreamed  that  the 
restored  Mikado  would  excel  the  dethroned  Tvcoon  in  emulating 
Western  civilization. 

"But  I  must  not  enlarge.  Gentlemen,  you  have  dedicated 
your  fortunes  and  your  lives  to  the  regeneration  of  China.  I 
pray  God  that  you  may  individually  enjoy  the  rich  rewards  of 
that  devotion ! 

"  This  day,  with  its  pleasing  incidents,  will  be  forever  fresh  in 
my  memory." 


258  JAPAN",  CHINA,  AND  COCHIN"  CHINA. 

January  Mh. — The  Chinese,  though  not  of  the  Caucasian 
race,  have  all  its  political,  moral,  and  social  capabilities.  Long 
ago,  they  reached  a  higher  plane  of  civilization  than  most  of 
the  European  states  attained  until  a  much  later  period.  The 
Western  nations  have  since  risen  above  that  plane.  The  whole 
world  is  anxiously  inquiring  whether  China  is  to  retrieve  the  ad- 
vantages she  has  lost,  and  if  she  is  to  come  within  the  family  of 
modern  civilized  states.  Mr,  Burlingame's  sanguine  temperament 
and  charitable  disposition  led  him  to  form  too  favorable  an  opinion 
of  the  present  condition  of  China.  In  his  anxiety  to  secure  a  more 
liberal  policy  on  the  part  of  the  Western  nations  toward  the  ancient 
empire,  he  gave  us  to  understand,  especially  in  his  speeches,  that, 
while  China  has  much  to  learn  from  the  Western  nations,  she  is  not 
M'ithout  some  peculiar  institutions  which  they  may  advantageously 
adopt.  This  is  not  quite  true.  Although  China  is  far  fi*om  being 
a  barbarous  state,  yet  every  system  and  institution  there  is  inferior 
to  its  corresponding  one  in  the  West.  Whether  it  be  the  abstract 
sciences,  such  as  philosophy  and  psychology,  or  whether  it  be  the 
practical  forms  of  natural  science,  astronomy,  geology,  geography, 
natural  history,  and  chemistry,  or  the  concrete  ideas  of  govern- 
ment and  laws,  morals  and  manners ;  whether  it  be  in  the  sesthetie 
arts  or  mechanics,  every  thing  in  China  is  effete.  Chinese  educa- 
tion rejects  science ;  Chinese  industry  proscribes  invention  ;  Chi- 
nese morals  appeal  not  to  conscience,  but  to  convenience ;  Cliinese 
architecture  and  navigation  eschew  all  improvements;  Chinese 
government  maintains  itself  by  extortion  and  terror ;  Chinese  reli- 
gion is  materialistic — not  even  mystic,  much  less  spiritual.  If  we 
ask  how  this  inferiority  has  come  about,  among  a  people  who  have 
achieved  so  much  in  the  past,  and  have  capacities  for  greater  achieve- 
ment in  the  future,  we  must  conclude  that,  owing  to  some  error  in 
their  ancient  social  system,  the  faculty  of  invention  has  been  ar- 
rested in  its  exercise  and  impaired. 

China  first  became  known  to  the  Western  world  by  the  discov- 
eries of  Marco  Polo  in  the  thirteenth  century.  At  that  period  and 
until  after  the  explorations  of  Yasco  de  Gama,  China  appears  to 
have  been  not  comparatively  great,  prosperous,  and  enlightened. 


CONDITION  OF   CHINA.  259 

but  absolutely  so.  An  empire  extending  from  tne  snows  of  Siberia 
to  the  tropics,  and  from  the  Pacific  to  the  mountain  sources  of  the 
great  rivers  of  Continental  Asia,  its  population  constituted  one- 
fourth  of  the  human  race.  Diversified  climate  and  soil  afibrded  all 
the  resources  of  public  and  private  wealth.  Science  and  art  devel- 
oped those  resources.  Thus,  when  European  nations  came  upon 
the  shores  of  China,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  they  found  the 
empire  independent  and  self-sustaining.  The  Mantchoos  on  the 
north  had  invaded  the  empire  and  substituted  a  Tartar  dynasty 
at  Peking  for  a  native  dynasty  at  Nanking,  but  the  conquerors 
and  the  conquered  were  still  Chinese,  and  the  change  was  a  revolu- 
tion and  not  a  subjugation.  China  having  thus  attained  all  the 
objects  of  national  life,  came  to  indulge  a  sentiment  of  supercilious 
pride,  under  the  influence  of  which  she  isolated  herself  from  all 
other  nations.  Her  government  from  its  earliest  period  was  in  the 
hands  of  a  scholastic  and  pedantic  class,  a  class  which  elsewhere 
has  been  found  incapable  of  practical  rule.  Since  the  isolation 
took  place,  that  class  has  efiectively  exercised  all  the  powers  of  the 
state,  in  repressing  inquiry  and  stifling  invention,  through  fear 
that  change  in  any  direction  would  result  in  their  own  overthrow. 
The  long  isolation  of  the  empire,  and  the  extirpation  of  native  in- 
vention, have  ended  in  reversing  the  position  of  China.  From 
being  self-sustaining  and  independent,  as  she  was  when  found  by 
the  European  states,  she  has  become  imbecile,  dependent,  and  help- 
less. Without  military  science  and  art,  she  is  at  the  mercy  of 
Western  nations.  Without  the  science  of  political  economy,  the 
Government  is  incapable  of  maintaining  an  adequate  system  of 
revenue ;  and,  without  the  science  of  Western  laws  and  morals,  it 
is  equally  incapable  of  maintaining  an  impartial  and  efi"ective  ad- 
ministration of  justice.  Having  refused  to  adopt  Western  arts  and 
sciences,  the  Government  is  incapable  of  establishing  and  maintain- 
ing a  beneficial  domestic  administration.  Insurrections  and  revo- 
lutions are  therefore  unavoidable,  nor  can  the  Government  repress 
them  without  the  aid  of  the  Western  powers.  She  pays  the  Euro- 
pean nations  for  making  the  clothing  for  her  people,  and  the  arms 
with  which  they  must  defend  themselves.     She  imports  not  only 


2G0  JAPAN,   CHINA,   AND  COCHIN  CHINA. 

the  precious  metals,  but  coal  and  iron,  instead  of  allowing  her  own 
mines  to  be  opened.  Slie  forbids  tlie  employment  of  steam  and 
animal  power  in  mechanics,  and  so  largely  excludes  her  fabrics 
from  foreign  markets. 

Though  China  would  now  willingly  leave  all  the  world  alone, 
other  nations  cannot  afford  to  leave  her  alone.  Great  Britain  must 
send  her  cotton  fabrics  and  iron  manufactures.  The  United  States 
must  send  her  steam-engines  and  agricultural  implements,  and 
bring  away  her  coolies.  Italy,  France,  and  Belgium,  must  have 
her  silks,  and  all  the  world  must  have  her  teas,  and  send  her  their 
religions.  All  these  operations  cannot  go  on  without  steam-en- 
gines, stationary  as  well  as  marine,  Hoe's  printing-press,  and  the 
electric  telegraph. 

Now  for  the  question  of  the  prospects  of  China.  Before  attempt- 
ing to  answer  this,  it  will  be  best  to  define  intelligently  the  pres- 
ent political  condition  of  China.  Certainly  it  is  no  longer  an  abso- 
lutely sovereign  and  independent  empire,  nor  has  it  yet  become  a 
protectorate  of  any  other  empire.  It  is,  in  short,  a  state  under  the 
constant  and  active  surveillance  of  the  Western  maritime  nations. 
This  surveillance  is  exercised  by  their  diplomatic  representatives, 
and  by  their  naval  forces  backed  by  the  menace  of  military  in- 
tervention. In  determining  whether  this  precarious  condition  of 
China  is  likely  to  continue,  and  whether  its  endurance  is  desirable, 
it  would  be  well  to  consider  what  are  the  possible  alternatives. 
There  are  only  three  :  First,  absolute  subjugation  by  some  foreign 
state ;  second,  the  establishment  of  a  protectorate  by  some  foreign 
state  ;  third,  a  complete  popular  revolution,  overthrowing  not  only 
the  present  dynasty,  but  the  present  form  of  government,  and 
establishing  one  which  shall  be  in  harmony  with  the  interests  of 
China  and  the  spirit  of  the  age.  The  Chinese  people,  inflated  with 
national  pride,  and  contempt  for  Western  sciences,  arts,  religions, 
morals,  and  manners,  are  not  prepared  to  accept  the  latter  alterna- 
tive. The  rivalry  of  the  Western  nations,  with  the  fluctuations  of 
the  balance  of  their  political  powers,  render  it  dangerous  for  any 
foreign  state  to  assume  a  protectorate.  The  second  alternative  is, 
therefore,  out  of  the  question.     We  have  already  expressed  the 


POLICY  OF  THE   WESTERN  POWERS.  261 

opinion  that  mankind  have  outlived  the  theory  of  universal  empire, 
and  certainly  the  absolute  subjugation  of  China  by  any  Western 
state  would  be  a  nearer  approach  to  universal  empire  than  Greek, 
or  Koman,  or  Corsican,  or  Cossack,  ever  dreamed  of.  The  exercise 
of  sovereignty  in  China  by  a  national  dynasty,  under  the  surveil- 
lance and  protection  of  the  maritime  powers,  is  the  condition  most 
favorable  to  the  country  and  most  desirable.  The  maintenance  of  it 
seems  practicable  so  far  as  it  depends  upon  the  consent  of  the  mari- 
time surveillant  powers.  But  how  long  the  four  hundred  millions 
of  people  within  the  empire  will  submit  to  its  continuance  is  a 
question  which  baffles  all  penetration.  The  present  Government 
favors  and  does  all  it  can  to  maintain  it.  Prince  Kung  and  Wan- 
Siang  are  progressive  and  renovating  statesmen,  but  a  year  or  two 
hence  a  new  emperor  will  come  to  the  throne.  The  literati,  no  less 
bigoted  now  than  heretofore,  have  an  unshaken  prestige  among 
the  people,  and,  for  aught  any  one  can  judge,  the  first  decree  of  the 
new  emperor  may  be  the  appointment  of  a  reactionary  ministry, 
with  the  decapitation  of  the  present  advisers  of  the  throne.  Let  it, 
then,  be  the  policy  of  the  Western  nations  to  encourage  and  sustain 
the  sao-acious  reformers  of  China,  and  in  dealino;  with  that  extraor- 
dinary  people  to  practise  in  all  things  justice,  moderation,  kind- 
ness, and  sympathy.  Of  course,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  or  desired 
that  the  foreign  surveillance  which  is  now  practised  will  retain  its 
present  obnoxious  and  oppressive  character.  The  habit  of  interven- 
tion, and  the  habit  of  acquiescence  in  it  once  fixed,  surveillance 
will  assume  the  forms  of  protective  tutorship.  The  interests  of 
both  parties  will  require  that  this  tutorship  be  exercised  with  leni- 
ency ;  gradual  amelioration  of  the  political  and  social  condition  of 
China  will  produce  mutual  sympathy  and  respect  between  the  pro- 
tectors and  the  protected,  the  instructors  and  the  pupil.  Some- 
thing of  this  kind  has  already  happened  in  the  relations  between 
the  Western  states  and  the  Ottoman  powers. 

It  has  been  no  easy  task  to  set  down  these  hurried  reflections 
in  the  midst  of  festivities,  only  brought  to  an  end  by  the  parting 
with  so  many  kind  friends.  The  signal  is  hoisted,  and  we  go  on 
board  the  Provence. 


CHAPTEE  XVIII. 

A    GLANCE  AT   COCHIN  CHINA. 

The  Steamer  Provence. — Island  of  Hainan. — Our  Fellow-Passengers. — The  Mouth  of  the 
Saigon  River. — The  City  of  Saigon. — French  Aptitude  for  Colonization. — French 
Photographs. — The  Queen  of  Cambodia. 

Steamer  Provence,  South  CJiina  Sea,  January  6th. — ^Wearied 
witli  our  long  wanderings  over  China,  which,  though  interesting, 
were  attended  with  much  fatigue,  and  with  the  hospitalities  which, 
however  delightful,  were  nevertheless  exhausting,  we  resumed  our 
onward  voyage  with  a  feeling  of  relief. 

We  are  now  running  down  the  coast  of  the  large  and  prosper- 
ous island  of  Hainan,  which  is  separated  from  the  main-land  of 
China  by  the  Gulf  of  Tonquin.  They  speak  of  aborigines  on  the 
island,  but,  from  what  we  learn  of  its  subdivision  into  Chinese 
provinces,  and  its  confessedly  great  trade,  we  are  inclined  to 
believe  that  its  civilization  does  not  differ  materially  from  that  of 
the  province  of  Quan-Tong. 

Our  steamer,  recently  L'Imperatrice,  of  the  "  Messageries  Im- 
periales,"  is  now  La  Provence,  of  the  "  Messageries  Rationales," 
changes  of  name  which  illustrate  the  political  versatility  of  the 
French  people.  The  tout  ememUe  of  passengers  and  crew  is 
scarcely  less  indicative  of  social  movements  in  the  East. 

There  are  eleven  young  men,  sons  of  Japanese  daimios,  travel- 
ling under  the  care  of  a  Prussian,  who  has  been  their  tutor  for  five 
years.  They  are  now  going  to  finish  their  studies ;  some  in  Eng- 
land, some  in  France,  some  in  Germany — the  larger  number  in  the 


THE  SAIGON  RIVEK.  263 

United  States.  It  was  only  wlien  they  embarked  that  they  changed 
their  native  flowing  silken  dresses,  two  swords,  and  wooden  shoes, 
for  the  Western  costume.  The  tawny  lads  seem  to  enjoy  the 
change  prodigiously,  for  they  make  during  the  day  as  many  changes 
of  toilet  as  a  Saratoga  belle. 

There  is,  next,  an  intelligent  American  merchant  of  Shanghai, 
on  his  way  to  London,  as  agent  of  the  Chinese  Government,  to  pur- 
chase two  "American"  merchant-steamers,  to  be  built  in  England, 
and  steam-engines  for  two  "  American  "  ships-of-war,  which  are 
now  on  the  stocks  at  Shanghai.  Also  a  Spanish  tobacco-merchant 
with  his  family,  going  from  Manila  to  visit  his  early  home  in  Cata- 
lonia. 

Two  young  Americans,  just  out  of  Harvard,  are  making  the 
tour  around  the  world.  They  are  now  going  to  Bangkok,  a  jour- 
ney which  we  had  purposed  making,  but  were  obliged  to  forego. 
On  reaching  Saigon,  they  intend  crossing  the  mountains  of  Cam- 
bodia to  Siam  by  elephant-train. 

January  ^ith. — When  you  are  travelling  in  a  foreign  country  by 
road  or  river,  how  provoking  it  is  to  pass  a  capital,  historic  battle- 
field, ancient  university,  cathedral,  or  ruined  castle,  on  the  right 
and  on  the  left,  without  stopping  to  examine  them  !  It  is  just  so 
in  going  around  the  world.  We  are  now  passing  the  empire  of 
Anam,  and  entering  the  Saigon  River,  only  eight  degrees  north  of 
the  equator.  Fahrenheit  83°.  The  river-water  is  clear  and  pure. 
A  white  light-house,  built  by  the  French,  rises  above  the  forest  on 
the  high  northern  promontory ;  the  southern  bank  is  a  plain  cov- 
ered with  cocoa-nut  groves.  The  luxuriant  beauty  of  the  scene  is 
bewildering.  While  we  wi-ite,  the  ocean  is  left  behind  us,  and  the 
broad,  dark  river  shrinks  within  the  width  of  forty  rods.  The 
banks  are  covered  with  impenetrable  jungle  of  mangoes,  bananas, 
bamboos,  and  a  thousand  creepers  twisting  their  shrubbery  into  all 
manner  of  entanglement,  and  covering  it  with  flowers.  We  are 
told  that  the  wild-boar  takes  refuge  here  from  the  tiger  on  the 
uplands,  and  we  see  parrots  rearing  their  chattering  broods,  while 
the  monkeys  hold  perpetual  revel. 


264  JAPAN,   CHINA,  AND   COCHIN  CHINA. 

The  river  below  Saigon  lias  a  serpentine  course,  and  is  navi- 
gated chiefly  by  small  native  vessels,  moving  gracefully  under  light 
bamboo  sails.  The  banks  rise  to  greater  height  as  we  ascend  the 
river,  and  A'-arious  kinds  of  palm  grace  the  diflerent  elevations,  until 
all  give  place  to  the  eagle-wood  and  the  cinnamon  on  the  blue 
mountains  which  overlook  the  lovely  valley. 

Saigon,  January  Sth. — We  closed  our  eyes  last  night  wishing 
that  we  might  remain  forever  afloat  on  the  dark  water  of  the  Saigon. 
Long  before  morning,  however,  swarms  of  mosquitoes  and  gnats 
made  us  impatient  for  the  shore,  where  we  felt  sure  that  flowers, 
birds,  and  butterflies,  were  awaiting  us.  The  Blue-book  bears  no 
name  of  United  States  consul  at  Saigon.  From  the  deck,  never- 
theless, we  espied  the  United  States  flag,  and  learned,  on  inquiry, 
that  the  German  who  raised  it  there  had  left  it  to  the  care  of 
some  friendly  native  keeper.  We  inquired  no  further,  and  in  this 
lonely  place,  the  only  one  thus  far  in  our  voyage,  no  one  inquired 
for  us. 

The  commandant  of  La  Provence  put  us  ashore  in  his  gig.  We 
bargained  for  the  first  two  carriages  we  found  there,  at  the  rate  of 
one  dollar  an  hour  for  each,  and  in  these  vehicles,  called  "  garries," 
each  drawn  by  a  rough  Chinese  pony,  and  having  seats  for  four 
passengers  (a  very  close  fit),  a  guide,  and  a  servant,  we  set  out  on 
our  travels  in  Cochin  China. 

Saigon  is  a  native  city  of  from  sixty  thousand  to  a  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants.  The  European  settlement  adjoining  it  differs 
from  those  we  have  seen  in  Japan  and  China,  only  in  being  French. 
This  is  a  matter  of  no  special  moment,  because  all  foreigners  assim- 
ilate in  the  East.  The  population  is  perhaps  two  hundred  and  fifty, 
exclusive  of  the  garrison.  There  is  a  public  garden  filled  with 
plants,  but  it  wears  an  air  of  neglect,  in  consequence,  we  think,  not 
of  declining  trade,  but  of  political  insecurity  growing  out  of  the  war 
in  Europe.  All  Eastern  potentates  and  nobles  maintain  menage- 
ries. The  garden  at  Saigon  proclaims  itself  an  appendage  to  the 
French  republic,  by  a  meagre  collection  of  leopards,  tigers,  bears, 
monkeys,  birds,  and  reptiles.     The  French  Government  is  building 


A  NATIVE  OF  SAIGON".  265 

a  large  palace  for  the  residence  of  the  admiral  commanding  the 
forces  in  Eastern  waters. 

The  native  city  consists  of  two  towns,  standing  on  two  rivers, 
distant  two  miles  from  each  other,  and  connected  by  a  firm  road. 


NATIVE  OP  SAIGON. 


The  population  is  by  no  means  homogeneous.  The  merchants  and 
traders  are  not  Cochin  Chinese,  but  chiefly  Chinese,  and  all  classes 
speak,  to  some  extent,  the  French  language.  A  happy  accord 
seems  to  exist  between  them  and  the  French.  All  show  the  pleas- 
ing impress  of  French  manners.  We  alighted  from  our  vehicles 
whenever  we  found  any  thing  noticeable,  and  invariably  were 
waited  upon  by  polite  and  assiduous  attendants.  We  entered  and 
inspected  a  Buddhist  temple.  The  bonzes,  with  great  courtesy, 
showed  us  every  thing  it  contained.  Whenever  we  stopped,  tea, 
fruit,  and  sherbet,  were  offered  us.  The  smallest  payment  was 
thankfully  received,  and,  when  we  declined,  the  refreshments  were 
urged  upon  us  without  cost.  In  short,  Saigon  is  the  only  place  we 
have  found  thus  far,  in  the  wide  world,  where  everybody  seemed 


200  JAPAN,    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN   CHINA. 

pleased  with  us,  with  themselves,  and  we  had  reason  to  be  pleased 
with  everybody. 

The  French  have  a  peculiar  facility  in  effecting  colonial  assim- 
ilation to  their  national  ways  and  manners.  One  experiences  the 
same  gentle  and  kind  welcome  on  the  banks  of  the  lower  St.  Law- 
rence that  he  finds  here  on  the  banks  of  the  Saiofon.  It  is  almost 
enough  to  make  us  wish  that  the  French  nation  might  be  more  suc- 
cessful in  extending  their  foreign  dominion.  The  whole  field  of 
French  empire  in  Cochin  China,  which  figures  so  largely  in  the 
ambitious  manifestoes  of  the  Government  in  Paris,  is  hardly  more 
than  forty  miles  square.  But  France,  by  means  of  that  possession, 
has  acquired  a  protectorate  over  the  province  of  Cambodia,  which 
is  adjacent,  and  nominally  belongs  to  the  empire  of  Anam.  The 
sovereign  of  that  empire  concedes  to  France  this  protectorate  over 
Cambodia,  in  consideration  of  the  French  guarantee  of  the  integrity 
of  his  empire.  This  great  potentate,  like  the  ostentatious  fiddler, 
has  two  strings  to  his  bow ;  for,  while  he  thus  enjoys  this  alliance 
with  France,  he  at  the  same  time,  as  titular  vassal,  claims  protec- 
tion from  the  Emperor  of  China.  It  would  be  long  to  tell  how, 
after  Euroj)ean  discoveries  in  the  East  Indies,  France  energeti- 
cally attempted  to  secure  positions  advantageous  for  trade  and  con- 
quest in  Madagascar,  Ceylon,  and  Bengal ;  how  unsuccessful  and 
vain  those  attempts  were,  until  the  great  Colbert  found  in  the 
ambitious  Louis  XIY.  a  monarch  wise  enough  to  accept  the 
project  of  a  French  East  India  Company;  how  successfully  that 
company  established  factories  at  Mauritius,  at  Surat,  and  Pondi- 
chery,  and  other  places  in  India.  It  would  be  sad  to  tell  how,  in 
the  great  war  in  which  France  lost  nearly  all  her  American  posses- 
sions, she  also  lost  nearly  all  her  acquisitions  in  the  East ;  how 
the  French  Jesuit  missionaries  in  Cochin  China  cunningly  secured 
from  the  native  emperor  the  concession  of  Saigon  to  Louis  XYI. ; 
how  the  French  nation  exulted  in  a  gain  of  this  position  in  the 
rear  of  Hindostan,  from  which  they  might  hope  to  assail  and  over- 
throw British  dominion  on  the  Asiatic  Continent ;  how  this  ambi- 
tion of  France  died,  with  all  ambition  of  colonial  aggrandizement, 
in  the  great  lievolution  of  ni)iet>/-three ;   how  that  ambition,  in 


AN   AETISAN'S  HOUSE. 


267 


regard  to  tlie  East,  revived  in  18G1,  in  the  period  of  the  Second 
Empire,  and  Admiral  Charner  enforced  the  concession  which  had 
so  long  before  been  made  to  Louis  XVI. 

Saigon  is  by  no  means  valueless  as  a  seat  of  commerce.  The 
earth  has  no  more  fertile  fields  than  those  of  Cochin  China.  Among 
its  products  are  luxuries  the  most  desired  by  civilized  nations. 
"While  rice  is  an  abundant  staple,  Saigon  exports  the  gum  of  lac- 
quer, cinnamon,  and  many  useful  and  precious  woods;     It  is  not. 


ABTISAM  S  HOUSE   AT   SAIGON. 


however,  chiefly  for  local  trade  that  France  values  Saigon.  It  is  a 
convenient  station  for  commercial  and  postal  steam-lines,  by  which 
she  has  expected  to  maintain  her  prestige  as  a  maritime  power  of 
the  first  rank.  Her  experience  has  demonstrated  the  truth  of  two 
political  axioms :  First,  that  the  possession  of  extensive  foreign  col- 
onies 'adds  immeasurably  to  the  credit  and  prestige  of  a  nation  ; 
secondly,  that  a  nation  which  cannot  maintain  peace  at  home,  can- 
not permanently  hold  foreign  possessions. 

As  our  habit  is,  we  take  away  from  Saigon  many  photographic 


268 


JAPAN",    CHINA,   AND   COCHIN'   CHINA. 


illustrations  of  manners,  dress,  and  scenery.  They  are  French, 
and  admirably  executed.  AYe  are  puzzled,  however,  in  our  efforts 
to  determine  the  truthfulness  of  one  of  them,  notwithstanding  its 
official  verification.  It  represents  the  Queen  of  Cambodia,  2:)roteffee 
of  the  French  Empire,  with  naked  feet  and  ankles,  encircled  by 
costly  gold  bangles  and  jewels,  while  her  head  is  covered  with  a 
Parisian  bonnet  of  the  year  1862,  presented  to  her,  with  other 
articles  of  European  fashion,  by  the  French  emperor. 


Wl;0 


QireEN  OF  CAMBODIA. 


PART   III. 

TEE  EASTERN  ARCHIPELAGO,    STRAITS    OF 
MALACCA,    AND    CEYLON. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  CHINA   SEA,   SINGAPORE,  AND   THE  STRAITS   OF  SUNDA. 

Our  Distance  from  Home. — Calm  Seas  and  Temperate  Breezes. — Singapore. — A  Dispatch 
from  Boston. — The  People  of  Singapore. — Their  Habitations. — Life  in  the  Tropics. 
— A  Dutch  Steamer. — Our  Crew. — A  Question  of  Races. — Rather  Hot.^Banca  and 
Sumatra. — The  Straits  of  Sunda. 

China  Sea,  January  ^th. — In  the  five  montlis  since  we  left 
home,  we  reckon  in  distances  made,  eighteen  thousand  miles,  an 
average  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  a  day,  although  it  seems 
as  if  we  had  been  at  rest  half  the  time.  "While  we  are  passing  on 
our  right  the  extreme  promontory  of  Cochin  China,  we  are  leaving 
on  our  left,  at  a  distance  of  one  hundred  miles,  the  Philippine  Isl- 
ands, the  relic  of  Spanish  empire  in  the  East  Indies.  We  continue 
enjoying  calm  seas  and  temperate  breezes. 

Singapore,  January  11th. — Anchored  at  midnight,  and  what  a 
night !  Stifling  cabins  and  myriads  of  mosquitoes.  Is  this  our 
penance  for  invading  the  equator  ? 

At  sunrise,  the  United  States  consul,  Mr.  Jewell,  came  on 
board,  with  Mr.  Young,  of  the  house  of  Busteed  &  Company. 
They  drove  us,  in  a  well-himg  English  carriage,  behind  two  fine 
Australian  bays,  first  to  the  consulate,  where  a  breakfast  awaited 
us,  then  to  Mr.  Young's  pretty  villa,  on  the  hill,  where  he  is  kindly 
taking  care  of  us.  Three  months  having  elapsed  since  we  heard 
from  home,  our   first   inquiry  was,  whether   the   telegraph-cable 


272  THE  EASTERN  ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 

lias  been  laid  from  Point  de  Galles  to  this  place.  "  Yes,"  said  Mr. 
Young,  "  I  received  to-day  a  dispatcli  which  came  from  Boston  in 
twenty-four  hours."  It  is  reassuring  to  come  again  into  instan- 
taneous communication  with  home  and  "the  rest  of  manidnd." 
The  new  wire  brings  European  intelligence  of  six  weeks'  later  date 
than  we  read  at  IIong-Koug.  Tliis  intelligence,  however,  which 
we  so  eagerly  sought,  was  contained  in  a  meagre  statement. 
"  l^othing  important  happened  since  republic  proclaimed  at  Paris. 
Much  speculation.  Probably  Orleans  family.  Papers  promise  ex- 
pulsion German  armies.     Perhaps  anarchy." 

We  enter  British  India  from  the  east  at  Singapore.  It  is  the 
chief  commercial  town  of  the  colony,  acquired  by  purchase  and  or- 
ganized by  the  British  Government  in  1824,  as  the  Eastern  Straits 
Settlement ;  the  name  derived  from  the  straits  of  Malacca.  This 
jurisdiction  extends  north  by  west  to  the  island  of  Penang,  oif  the 
Malay  Peninsula.  Penang  is  officially  regarded  as  the  capital, 
although  the  business  of  the  government  is  carried  on  here.  Sin- 
gapore is  a  free  port.  It  has  an  aggregate  population  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand,  which  is  rapidly  increasing.  There  are 
five  hundred  Europeans.  British  subjects,  together  with  less  than 
a  dozen  citizens  of  the  United  States,  monopolize  Western  naviga- 
tion and  commerce.  More  than  half  of  the  population  are  Chinese, 
chiefly  merchants  and  bankers  engaged  in  the  domestic  trade,  and 
that  which  is  carried  on  with  adjacent  Asiatic  countries — China, 
Siam,  Burmah,  Java,  and  the  Eastern  Archipelago — others  are  me- 
chanics and  gardeners.  It  would  be  an  eftectual  antidote  to  the 
California  croaking  against  the  pagan  Chinese,  to  see  the  protection 
and  encouragement  which  the  British  authorities  extend  to  the 
Chinese  immigration  here.  The  Jew  has  not  failed  to  make  good 
his  position.  He  is,  as  everywhere  else,  a  broker  in  small  and  sec- 
ond-hand wares.  The  residue  of  the  population  are  chiefly  native, 
perhaps  aboriginal  Malays,  with  an  accession  of  indolent  and  thrift- 
less immigrants  from  Hindostan,  The  seamen  are  of  many  Orien- 
tal races,  natives  of  Goa,  Javanese,  Hindoos,  Malays,  Burmese,  Siam- 
ese, Cingalese,  Abyssinians,  and  negroes.  With  this  conglomerate 
population,  it  is  not  singular  that  Singapore  is  a  harbor  for  vagrants 


SINGAPORE  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  273 

and  waifs  from  all  parts  of  the  East.  It  is  almost  unnecessary  to 
say  that  Singapore  is  a  central  station  of  commerce  between  Eii- 
rope  and  the  far  East,  Burmah,  China,  Japan,  the  Archipelago,  and 
Australia.  India  opium,  camphor,  and  lacquer,  Java  coffee,  China 
silks  and  teas,  Manila  tobacco,  spices  of  Sumatra  and  Borneo,  the 
tin  of  Banda,  etc.,  are  exchanged  for  British  and  French  manufac- 
tures. Ladies  will  be  interested  in  knowing  that  Singapore  is  the 
mart  for  articles  of  jewelry  and  vertu  of  all  sorts,  such  as  civilized 
people  no  less  than  barbarians  delight  in.  Parisian  and  London 
imitations  of  Oriental  articles  of  those  sorts  are  sold  by  the  natives 
here  to  curiosity-seeking  Europeans,  who  would  reject  them  at 
home.  But  there  is  also  an  abundance  ot  native  productions,  ex- 
quisitely beautiful;  sea-shell,  coral,  precious  stones,  tigers'  claws 
mounted  with  gold,  tigers'  skins,  and  birds-of-paradise,  tempt  us 
on  every  side,  while  the  most  delicate  Chinese  porcelain,  and  carv- 
ings in  sandal-wood  and  eagle-wood  for  incense,  are  staples  of  a 
large  trade. 

The  European  dwellings  do  not  differ  from  those  in  the  Chinese 
concessions,  while  those  of  the  Asiatic  immigrants,  by  greater  spa- 
ciousness, cleanliness,  and  comfort,  manifest  an  advance  toward 
Western  ideas.  This  improvement,  however,  is  slow  among  the 
Malays.  When  this  race  became  known  to  the  Europeans,  they 
were  found  living  in  buildings  raised  on  stakes  four  or  five  feet 
above  the  ground,  for  the  desirable  purpose  of  drainage  and  secu- 
rity against  reptiles  and  wild  beasts.  The  Malays  at  Singapore 
retain  the  architectural  habits  of  their  ancestors. 

Here,  as  at  Saigon,  the  foreigners  maintain  a  public  garden,  but 
this  one  exhibits  the  indescribable  luxuriance  of  tropical  vegetation, 
under  the  painstaking  hand  of  the  Chinese  cultivator,  directed  by 
European  skill. 

The  jumble  of  diverse  races  has  produced  a  strange  medley  of 
religions  here.  There  are  several  Chinese  temples,  which  foreign- 
ers contemptuously  call,  here  as  in  China,  "joss-houses;"  one 
Bramin  temple,  with  its  sacred  cows  and  goats ;  half  a  dozen 
severe-looking  Mohammedan  mosques ;  a  Roman  Catholic  church ; 
and  a  cathedral  of  the  Church  of  England.     The  British  Govern- 


274  THE  EASTEKN  ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 

ment  tolerates  all  these  religions,  from  the  same  political  motive 
with  which  the  emperors  tolerated  the  various  modes  of  worship 
which  prevailed  in  the  Roman  world.  Although  these  various  re- 
ligions in  India  are  not  considered  by  the  people  as  equally  true,  or 
by  the  philosophers  as  equally  false,  the  magistrate  regards  them  as 
equally  useful.  This  toleration  produces  mutual  indulgence,  with- 
out religious  discord. 

A  secretary  waited  upon  Mr.  Seward,  with  an  invitation  from 
the  governor,  who  is  now  at  Penang. 

Mr.  Young,  with  a  very  hurried  invitation,  gathered  around  us 
a  large  and  distinguished  company  of  the  official  people,  merchants 
and  bankers  of  Singapore,  with  whom  we  have  passed  the  evening 
pleasantly. 

January  \%}i. — It  has  been  a  new  experience  to  sleep  in  cham- 
bers, with  doors  and  windows  opening  on  a  broad  veranda,  with- 
out the  protection  of  panels  or  glass.  It  was  an  experience  equally 
novel,  when,  stepping  on  the  veranda,  at  six  o'clock,  we  found 
tables  spread  with  tea,  delicate  tropical  fruits,  and  ices,  while  the 
entire  family,  including  ladies  and  beautiful  children,  joined  us 
there,  having  already  returned  from  their  customary  exhilarating 
walks  and  rides.  So  it  seems  that  life  in  the  tropics  is  not  with- 
out pleasant  and  invigorating  excitements  and  exercise. 

Stoomschepen  Koningin  der  Nederlanden,  January  I'^th,  Even- 
ing.— Having  again  changed  our  nationality,  we  are  afloat,  this 
time,  under  the  tricolor  flag  of  the  Netherlands,  carefully  regis- 
tered, and  bound  for  the  island  of  Java.  Our  side-wheel  steamer 
is  rated  at  only  four  hundred  and  fifty  tons,  and  we  think  is  over- 
rated at  that.  She  is  the  first  steamer  which  was  built  on  that 
island,  and  is  thirty-four  years  old.  Though  not  improved  by  age, 
it  must  be  admitted  that  she  has  held  her  own  against  time  and 
typhoon.  Though  the  smallest  craft  we  have  yet  sailed  in,  she 
flourishes  a  long  if  not  a  great  name.  Heaven  save  all  persons  but 
penal  convicts  from  being  cramped  into  such  contracted  berths,  with 
the  mercury  standing  at  99°  !     We  indulge  this  objurgation  by 


THE  ISLAND   OF   SUMATEA.  275 

virtue  of  the  traveller's  license  to  find  fault.  Although  the  cabins 
are  small,  they  are  "  as  neat  as  a  Birmingham  pin ; "  and,  while  the 
hatchways  are  open,  the  ventilation  is  perfect.  A  table  stands  in 
the  centre  of  the  upper  deck,  protected  by  a  permanent  hurricane 
awning,  and  remains  covered  throughout  the  whole  day  with  equa- 
torial luxuries.  But  the  peculiar  institution  of  the  Dutch  Steam 
Navigation  Company  is,  another  table  standing  across  the  beam, 
midships,  on  which  decanters  are  always  kept  full  of  "Kaneel 
Liker,"  maraschino,  absinthe,  curagoa,  Schiedam  schnapps,  brandy, 
rum,  and  we  know  not  what  other  "appetizers,"  to  which  the 
Dutch  passengers  resort  continually,  without  a  suspicion  of  singu- 
larity, and  without  expense.  The  platform  of  the  deck  is  covered 
with  flowers  enough  to  constitute  a  conservatory,  and  with  baskets 
of  various  and  exquisite  fruits,  thoughtfully  brought  on  board,  and 
arranged  for  us,  by  our  consul.  When  we  came  on  board  this 
morning,  with  many  friends,  they  congratulated  us  on  having  "  a 
good  cloudy  day."  It  was  the  first  time  we  ever  knew  "  cloudy 
weather  "  at  sea  the  subject  of  felicitation. 

We  kre  already  reminded  that  we  have  entered  on  a  new 
geographical  and  political  study — that  of  the  Oriental  Archipelago. 
We  are  running:  down  the  northeastern  coast  of  the  rich  island  of 
Sumatra,  which  is  of  itself  almost  large  enough  to  be  a  continent, 
and  which  the  equator  divides,  as  it  divides  the  whole  world,  into 
equal  parts.  Only  one-fourth  of  it,  with  a  population  of  a  million, 
has  been  subjected  to  Western  rule,  and  this  is  a  Dutch  colony. 
The  other  three-fourths,  with  three  millions  of  people,  are  states 
ruled  by  native  princes,  some  of  whom  are  independent,  others 
under  Dutch  protection.  Sumatra  has  a  commercial  importance 
only  inferior  in  the  Archipelago  to  that  of  Java. 

Small  islands  cluster  toe-ether  so  closelv  on  our  left  hand  as  to 
give  us  for  a  channel  almost  an  inland  sea,  a  continuation  of  the 
straits  of  Malacca.  It  is  in  few  places  more  than  ten  miles  wide, 
and  smooth  like  a  river.  Its  shores  are  low  and  wear  a  rich  green 
verdure.  We  noticed  a  profuse  shower  of  rain,  at  a  distance  of  two 
miles,  while  the  sky  beyond  it,  as  well  as  over  our  heads,  was 
bright  and  cloudless.     Our  captain,  whose  professional  career  dates 


276  THE   EASTERN   ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 

from  the  building  of  the  stoomschepen  Koningin  der  N^ederlanden, 
assures  us  that,  while  rain  is  frequent  in  all  parts  of  this  equatorial 
voyage,  it  is  always  raining  at  the  place  where  that  particular 
shower  was  falling. 

Our  crew,  drawn  from  Singapore,  is  a  mixture  of  the  Asiatic  sea- 
men of  that  place  of  which  we  have  spoken.  Those  of  them  who 
come  from  Western  or  Southern  Asia,  wear  a  light,  graceful,  and 
picturesque  costume,  strongly  contrasting  with  the  plain  and  coarse 
dress  of  the  Chinese.  They  evidently  make  faithful  use  of  the  bath. 
Varying  in  complexion  from  tawny  to  black,  they  have  regular  and 
delicate  features.  They  exhibit  nothing  of  that  stolid  reserve 
which  causes  the  Chinese  to  be  regarded  as  sullen  and  contemptu- 
ous. Their  different  languao;es  are  based  on  the  ancient  Sanscrit. 
Each  has  an  alphabet.  Perhaps  it  is  for  this  reason  that  they  ac- 
quire any  European  language  easily,  and  speak  it  with  much  cor- 
rectness. It  will  be  a  curious  study  for  us  to  inquire  how^  much 
this  greater  adaptability  of  the  southern  and  western  Asiatic  races 
to  European  intercourse  is  due  to  their  earlier  and  more  intimate 
acquaintance  with  foreigners.  We  are  now  inclined  to  think  that 
a  closer  ethnological  affinity  exists  between  the  European  and  the 
Hindoo  and  Malay  nations  than  between  the  Europeans  and  the 
Mongolians  ;  and,  again,  that  there  is  a  closer  affinity  between  the 
Hindoo  and  the  Malay  nations  than  between  the  Mongolian  and 
the  Malay.  However  it  may  have  happened,  there  is  a  contrast 
quite  as  perceptible  between  the  rude  and  vigorous  population  of 
E^orthern  China  and  the  gentle  and  docile  natives  of  Sumatra  and 
Malacca,  as  there  was  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  America  be- 
tween the  fierce  tribes  of  New  Eno'land  and  New  York  and  the 
harmless  natives  of  San  Salvador  and  Hispaniola. 

Off  the  Island  of  Banca,  January  12>th.  Fahrenheit  90°. — 
Rather  hot  for  January,  according  to  our  way  of  thinking.  They 
say  that  latitude  affects  climate,  but  we  do  not  see  it  or  feel  it. 
Yesterday  we  left  Singapore  on  the  parallel  of  latitude  one  degree 
seventeen  minutes  north.  At  one  o'clock  this  morning  we  cross 
the  equator,  and  now  we  are  two  degrees  south  of  it.     Yet,  for  any 


1 


A  BOA  AFLOAT.  27T 

consciousness  we  liave,  the  weatlier  at  the  three  points  admits  of 
no  degrees  of  comparison.  It  is  hot  at  Singapore — it  is  hot  under 
the  equator — it  is  just  as  hot  here.  Perhaps  the  maxim  "  Ne  curat 
minimis  "  applies  to  the  laws  of  Nature  as  well  as  human  laws. 

We  have  always  read  that  life  on  a  Dutch  sailing-craft  is  easy 
and  lazy.  The  Koningin  der  Nederlanden  does  not  disprove  it. 
While  our  captain  insists  that  he  makes  seven  and  a  half  knots,  our 
measurement  on  the  chart  shows  that  we  are  really  going  only  six. 
Our  passengers,  however,  are  the  most  active  people  in  the  world. 
They  show  their  vigor  in  two  ways — one  in  changing  their  dress 
every  hour  to  get  cool,  the  other  in  taking  schnapps  every  half-hour 
to  get  hot  again. 

Crossing  the  line,  after  all,  especially  at  night,  is  no  great  affair. 
We  felt  no  concussion,  and,  as  the  passengers  were  all  in  their 
berths,  the  customary  nautical  ceremonies  were  omitted. 

Charts  show  us  high  mountains  in  the  interior  on  either  side. 
Banca  seems  covered  with  forests,  interrupted  here  and  there  by 
cultivation.  Sumatra  presents  a  low,  sedgy  shore,  large  pieces  of 
which,  covered  with  jungle,  are  continually  breaking  loose,  and 
float  about  in  the  forms  of  pretty  green  islets  on  the  dark  sea.  Of 
course,  .every  one  desires  to  haul  up  to  them  and  see  what  are  the 
plants  and  flowers  which  cover  them.  A  Dutch  skipper  yielded  to 
this  impulse  a  short  time  ago.  The  captain,  alighting  on  the  float- 
ing mass,  had  just  set  his  foot  on  a  cactus-stump,  when  a  huge  boa- 
constrictor  reared  his  glossy  head  and  proclaimed  his  proprietor- 
ship of  the  island  by  violent  hisses.  The  invader  retreated,  leav- 
ing the  "  lord  of  the  isle  "  to  navigate  his  crazy  craft  as  best  he 
might. 

Here  we  are  with  the  Malay  Peninsula  just  behind  us,  the  Spice 
Islands,  Sumatra,  Banca,  Borneo,  Java,  Celebes,  Floris,  Timor, 
Booro,  Ceram,  New  Guinea,  and  a  thousand  lesser  ones  all 
around  us.  We  read  and  "  hear  tell "  of  elephants  that  break 
down  telegraph-poles  in  rubbing  their  hard  hides ;  of  tigers,  lions, 
and  leopards,  always  prowling  through  the  jungle ;  of  shiny  serpents 
in  coils  like  cables ;  of  monkeys  playing  their  antics  in  palm-tree 
groves ;  of  parrots,  paroquets,  peacocks,  and  birds-of-paradise,  that 


278  THE   EASTERN   AECHIPELAGO,  ETC. 

excel  the  floral  vegetation  in  brilliancy  of  colors ;  and  yet  all  tliat 
we  can  sec  of  them  is  occasionally  a  captive  beast  in  a  menagerie,  or 
a  stnfted  bird  in  a  curiosity-shop  at  Singapore — a  new  illustration 
of  a  discovery  heretofore  announced,  that  going  round  the  world  is 
not  the  way  to  see  it.  Nevertheless,  it  is  something  to  learn  in  the 
near  vicinity  the  topography  of  these  islands,  which  are  the  native 
homes  of  the  various  tribes  of  the  Malay  race ;  to  learn  something 
of  the  character  and  condition  of  that  gentle  race,  whose  languid 
energies  are  now  excited  to  activity  and  directed  by  their  Dutch 
conquerors.  They  possess  a  wealth  peculiarly  their  own — the 
metals,  invaluable  teakwood,  and  cofiee,  with  spices,  dyes,  and 
gums,  aromatics,  and  roots  used  in  art  and  medicine,  brilliant 
featliers  and  glossy  skins  of  beasts  of  prey,  which  taste  and  luxury 
require  in  every  condition.  Even  this  little  island  on  our  left  reg- 
ulates, by  its  production,  the  market  of  tin  as  effectually  as  the  old 
Almaden  mines  in  Spain  and  the  New  Almaden  mines  in  Califor- 
nia regulate  that  of  quicksilver  throughout  the  world.  Moreover, 
there  are,  in  various  parts  of  these  islands,  ruins  of  cities  and  tem- 
ples, which  seem  to  indicate  a  primeval  civilization,  which  has 
passed  away  without  leaving  either  record  or  tradition,  By-and-by, 
commercial  intercourse  will  render  research  among  these  {antiqui- 
ties practicable,  perhaps  profitable.  Meanwhile,  we  must  be  satis- 
fied with  an  inspection  of  Java,  a  design  which  we  shall  be  able  to 
execute  if  the  Koningin  der  Nederlanden  shall  live  to  complete 
this,  the  ten  hundred  and  twentieth  of  her  voyages. 

Despite  our  resolution,  this  equatorial  travel  is  working  a 
change  in  our  habits.  The  heat  becomes  insupportable  at  ten 
o'clock,  and  drives  us  to  a  siesta.  At  sunset,  a  breeze  springs  up, 
clouds  gather,  a  brilliant  display  of  electricity  begins,  which  is  con- 
tinued until  midnight,  and  brings  refreshing  rains.  So  the  hot  day 
having  become  our  night,  the  cool  night  becomes  our  day  for  exer- 
cise, writing,  and  conversation. 

January  Ihth. — We  crossed,  last  night,  the  entrance  of  the 
straits  of  Sunda,  the  great  channel  of  trade  between  Europe,  China, 
and  Japan.     Can  any  one  doubt  the  unity  of  the  human  family, 


A   MONSOON. 


279 


when  he  recalls  the  fact  that  the  civil  war  which  convnlsed  the 
United  States,  five  years  ago,  had  its  painful  episodes  in  this  dis- 
tant sea  ?  We  encountered  in  the  passage  one  of  those  monsoons 
which  render  it  difficult  and  dangerous.  The  storm  caused  the 
Koningin  aforesaid  to  dance  in  a  manner  most  undignified  and 
unbecoming  this  grave  and  "  ancient  mariner."  The  ports  were 
closed,  the  cabins  grew  unendurable,  and  the  deck  became  the 
common  sleeping-room  of  the  passengers. 


SrNGAPOEE. 


22 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  CAPITAL   OF  J  A  VA, 

The  City  of  Batavia. — The  Hotel  des  Indes. — A  New-England  Sabbath. — Malay  Servants. 
— The  King's  Plain. — Population  of  Java. — The  Queen  of  the  East. — Departure  for 
Buitenzorg. — Manner  of  Travelling. — The  Vice-Regal  Residence. — The  Climate  of 
Java. — The  Baths  of  Buitenzorg. 

Batavia^  January  \^th. — At  sunrise  we  were  tossing  in  the 
open  roadstead,  four  miles  from  the  shore.  The  monsoon  was  past, 
though  the  sea  had  not  subsided.  The  skies  cleared  at  eight  o'clock, 
giving  us  a  view  of  a  long,  level,  green  coast,  swelling  upward  into 
lofty  blue  mountains.  There  is  much  less  shipping  here  than  at 
Singapore,  but  the  diversity  of  flags  indicates  a  not  less  various 
commerce.  The  smallest  of  all  steam-tugs  was  seen  bounding  over 
the  waves  and  distributing  passengers  and  freights,  among  steamers 
which  are  going  out  to  neighboring  Dutch  ports  throughout  the 
Archipelago.  When  she  had  done  this,  she  rounded  up  to  our 
steamer,  and  received  us  on  board.  On  the  way,  we  passed  a 
steamship-of-war,  freighted  with  troops,  going  to  repress  a  native 
rebellion  in  Borneo. 

A  pretty  stream,  which  once  stagnated  in  the  jungle,  has  been 
converted  into  a  broad  canal,  that  now  aifords  navigation  from  the 
roadstead  to  the  heart  of  the  city  of  Batavia.  The  custom-house 
officers  took  our  own  statement  for  our  number,  ages,  occupations, 
luggage,  and  intentions.  Malay  drivers,  the  smallest  men  we  ever 
Baw,  with  the  heaviest  sort  of  European  barouches,  drawn  by  mini- 


THE   STREETS   OF  BATAVIA. 


281 


ature  ponies,  whirled  on  a  gallop  over  streets  smooth  as  a  race- 
course, bordered  by  substantial  white  cottage  dwellings,  embow- 
ered in  groves  of  pine,  palmetto,  palm,  bamboo,  India-rubber,  and 
mimosa.  These  cottages,  which  might  be  mistaken  for  villas,  have 
deep  marble  porticoes  or  broad  verandas,  set  off  with  vases  of  tropi- 
cal flowers,  and  make  an  effective  display  of  small  but  tasteful  gar- 
den statuary.     This  colonial  town,  like  the  cities  of  the  mother- 


STEEET  IN   BATAVIA. 


country,  is  traversed  by  well-built  canals.  Horse-cars  are  moving 
swiftly  on  smooth  street-railways.  This  enterprise,  so  novel  in  the 
East,  belongs  to  Mr.  Pells,  who,  though  a  native  of  the  Netherlands, 
has  long  been  United  States  banker,  trader,  and  vice-consul.  So 
closely  does  the  city  assimilate  to  Holland,  that  it  seems  to  us  we 
have  gone  quite  through  the  East,  and  are  already  in  Europe. 

We  drove  to  the  Hotel  des  Indes,  the  first  tavern  we  have  had 


283 


THE  EASTERN  ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 


occasion  to  seek  since  we  left  Salt  Lake  City,  if  we  except  the  Chi- 
nese inns  on  the  way  from  Peking  to  the  Great  "Wall,  This  hotel 
is  a  building  of  one  story,  surrounding  a  circulai*  court,  with  a 
higher  central  edifice,  which  contains  the  propsr  offices,  drawing- 
rooms,  and  saloons,  a  veranda  surrounding  the  whole.  The  outer 
buildings,  occupied  as  private  apartments,  are  connected  by  corri- 
dors with  the  centre  building.  In  a  scrupulously  neat  bathing- 
house  attached  to  our  apartment,  we  enjoyed,  for  the  first  time,  the 
full  luxury  of  an  Oriental  bath,  for  the  bath  has  not  yet  been  suc- 
cessfully introduced  into  the  European  settlements  in  Japan  and 
China.  This  bath  consists  of  a  marble  basin  fifteen  feet  in  diame- 
ter, the  water  exactly  the  temperature  of  the  air,  clear,  and  deep 
enough  for  swimming. 

It  being  Sunday,  we  composed  ourselves  early  for  the  enjoy- 


MAKRIED    WOMAN    OF   JAVA. 


ment  of  a  New-England  Sabbath,  a  day  of  absolute  rest.     But  thia 
was  not  to  be.     A  host  of  native  street-pedlers  had  followed  us  to 


MALAY  SEKVANTS.  283 

the  hotel.  They  sat  down  and  chattered  on  the  veranda,  they 
crowded  into  our  parlor,  "  singly,  by  pairs,  and  by  the  dozen,"  and, 
in  spite  of  repulse  and  remonstrance,  forced  upon  us  a  display  of 
their  cheap  but  ostentatious  wares.  For  the  first  time,  we  have 
maintained  a  resolution  against  the  itinerant  merchant,  yielding 
only  in  the  case  of  a  blind  trader.  Even  he  left  us,  at  last,  weary 
with  our  delay  in  finding  the  guilders  required  for  the  purchase. 
But  we  called  him  back  and  bought  a  pair  of  green-velvet  gold- 
embroidered  slippers.  Breakfast  at  twelve.  Its  excellence,  con- 
trasting with  that  of  breakfests  at  home,  was  that  nothing  on  the 
table  was  hot.  On  what  principle  is  it  that  Europeans  in  the  East 
smother  the  delicate  flavor  of  rice  in  thirty  or  forty  piquant  con- 
diments ?  All  the  servants  are  Malays.  They  are  meek  and  un- 
obtrusive, but  not  servile;  willing  and  diligent,  but  not  quick. 
Tidy  and  even  tasteful  in  dress,  they  make  an  attractive  costume 
with  a  guilder's  worth  of  printed  muslin. 

The  Malay  is,  on  an  average,  two  inches  shorter  than  the  Euro- 
peans or  Mongolian,  with  scarcely  any  beard,  and  the  sexes  are  un- 
distinguishable  by  their  dress. 

Mr.  Pells,  advised,  from  Singapore,  of  our  coming,  came  at  one 
o'clock  and  immediately  removed  us  to  his  pleasant  villa  on  the 
"King's  Plain,"  which  is  the  Hyde  Park  of  Batavia,  a  shaded  lawn, 
four  miles  long,  and  half  a  mile  wide.  Primitive  national  habits, 
however,  are  not  relinquished  here.  The  "  King's  Plain"  is  the 
common  pasturage  of  the  milch-cows  of  the  city.  An  artist  would 
find  a  pretty  study  in  this  quiet  scene,  in  which  the  animals,  crop- 
ping the  rich  grass,  seem  scarcely  more  at  leisure  than  their  Malay 
attendants,  sitting  under  the  trees,  in  picturesque  attitude  and  cos- 
tume. 

In  going  to  our  new  residence,  we  stopped  to  hear  the  "  King's 
Band,"  and  lingered  there  until  sunset  witnessing  the  evening 
promenade  of  the  whole  European  population,  which,  including 
military  and  naval  officers,  numbers  six  thousand.  There  was  a 
grotesque  display  of  carriages  and  liveries  of  fashions  now  obso- 
lete in  Europe.  Gentlemen  as  well  as  ladies  and  children  disdain 
to  cover  their  heads  after  sunset,  while  all  "  sorts  and  conditions  of 


284 


THE  EASTERN  ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 


men  "  wear  white  gloves,  and  all  have  the  staid  and  gentle  Dutch 
manner.  Will  our  friends  consult  the  tables  of  population  ?  We 
think  the  island  of  Java  is  the  most  densely-populated  country  in 


A  JAVANESE   GIEL. 


the  world.  There  are  fourteen  millions  of  people  within  an  area 
of  forty-five  thousand  square  miles.  The  city  of  Batavia,  with  a 
diameter  of  eight  miles,  contains  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
inhabitants — more  than  half  of  these  are  Chinese.  The  residue, 
with  the  exception  of  the  few  Europeans,  is  divided  nearly  equally 
between  the  two  native  Malay  races,  Javanese  and  Sundese.  All 
the  Malays  are  Mohammedans.  The  Chinese  retain  their  native 
heathenism.  The  Europeans,  of  course,  are  Christians,  but  free 
from  religious  zeal  or  fervor. 

Batavia  challenges  the  title  of  "  Queen  of  the  East."  Certainly 
it  presents  a  delightful  contrast  to  the  towns  of  Japan  and  China, 
while  its  profusion  of  equatorial  shade-trees  and  flowers  makes  it 
far  more  pleasing  than  any  place  we  have  at  home.  The  settlement 
of  New  York,  by  the  Dutch,  and  that  of  Java  were  contempora- 


VISIT  TO  BUITENZORG.  285 

neous.  Each  was  surrounded  by  aboriginal  tribes — those  around 
New  York  sparse,  those  around  Batavia  populous.  The  aboriginal 
races  around  New  York  have  virtually  disappeared,  and  are  re- 
placed by  millions  of  European  derivation ;  the  aboriginal  races 
around  Batavia,  on  the  other  hand,  remain  in  even  greater  force 
than  at  the  time  of  the  conquest,  while  the  European  population  is 
only  twenty-seven  thousand.  Again,  neither  the  Netherlands  nor 
any  European  state  has  kept  a  foothold  within  the  vast  territory 
now  covered  by  the  United  States ;  while  the  Dutch  not  only  re- 
tain their  first  dominion  in  Java,  but  have  extended  it  over  the 
whole  island  and  a  large  portion  of  the  Archipelago.  What  a  con- 
trast there  has  been  in  the  processes  of  civilization  which  have  pro- 
duced results  so  widely  difi'erent  in  the  two  hemispheres  ! 

The  Governor,  or,  as  he  is  called,  the  "  Kesidente "  of  Batavia, 
visited  Mr.  Seward  to-day,  and  tendered  us  the  hospitalities  of  the 
province.  The  Governor-General  of  the  Dutch  East  Indies  resides 
at  Buitenzorg,  thirty-six  miles  distant,  and  has  invited  us  to  be  his 
guests  there.  The  intense  heat  to-day  has  not  only  overpowered 
us,  but  seems  to  have  overpowered  the  whole  population  of  Batavia. 
Our  morning  rest  was  protracted  until  evening,  and  then  deluging 
rains  made  us  prisoners. 

Buitenzorg,  January  ISth. — We  yesterday  appointed  six  for 
our  hour  of  departure.  It  was  our  own  fault,  or  rather  that  of  our 
luggage,  and  not  the  fault  of  the  post-oflSce,  that  we  were  delayed 
until  half-past  seven.  The  admiration  of  Batavia,  which  we  ex- 
pressed yesterday,  was  somewhat  modified  as  we  came  through 
the  city  and  suburbs  this  morning.  We  were,  at  first,  unable  to 
decide  by  what  name  we  should  call  the  dwellings  of  Europeans, 
whether  bungalows,  cottages,  or  villas.  We  now  found  them,  each 
with  its  beautiful  grove,  so  exactly  like  to  every  other,  that,  un- 
aided, we  shall  be  quite  unable,  on  our  return  to  the  city,  to  find 
Mr.  Pell's  residence,  or  the  street  on  which  it  stands.  To  tell 
the  truth,  moreover,  the  right  line  in  geometry  is  not  the  line  of 
beauty,  nor  is  the  parallelogram,  although  a  very  convenient  figure 
for  many  uses,  especially  adapted  to  landscape-gardening.     Nor 


286 


THE   EASTERN   ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 


was  it  altogether  gratifying  to  find  the  "  King's  Plain  "  soaking 
and  miiy,  much  more  suitable  for  a  dairy-meadow  than  a  park. 
These  strictures,  however,  we  now  think  hypercritical ;  we  must 
still  pronounce  Batavia  the  most  attractive  city  we  have  ever  seen. 
The  road  to  Buitenzorg  is  well  graded,  perfectly  macadamized, 
and,  what  is  better,  completely  bordered  and  shaded  on  either  side 


'^mmm^" 


SCENE    IN   JAVA. 


by  high,  thick  hedges  of  heliotrope,  cactus,  and  creepers,  all  in 
bloom.  Over  these  hedges,  the  light  bamboo  lines  the  avenue, 
opening  only  to  reveal  the  native  cottages,  peeping  from  under 
palm-groves.  All  the  people  we  see,  whether  about  their  humble 
dwellings,  or  moving  on  the  high-road,  seem  busy,  contented,  and 
happy.  Only  two  beggars  approached  us  on  the  way,  and  these 
timidly ;  both  were  blind. 


< 
> 

< 

w 

D 
0 
X 

h 
Z 

w 

d: 

> 

o 

0 


A  FASCINATING  RESIDENCE.  287 

The  manner  of  travel  here  is  on  the  postal  system,  which  was 
never  known  in  America,  and  is  now  superseded  by  railroads  in 
Europe.  We  have  Mr.  Pell's  stately  old  coach,  which  has  seats  for 
six  passengers  inside,  and  ample  room  for  four  servants  outside. 
We  carry  no  trunks,  our  wardrobes  being  stored  in  the  capacious 
boxes  under  the  seats.  Four  horses  draw  us  over  the  level  plain  ; 
more  are  added  in  climbing  hills.  The  driver  has  two  assistants  or 
runners  ilopers)^  who,  by  constantly  applying  their  lashes,  keep  the 
ponies  up  to  rimning-speed.  They  are  whisked  off  and  replaced  at 
stages  of  seven  miles.  We  made  the  journey  in  three  hours.  At 
each  stage,  the  traveller  pays  four  cents  to  each  loper,  and  ten  or 
twenty  cents  to  the  driver. 

If  Batavia  is  fascinating,  this  suburban  viceregal  residence  is 
supremely  so.  The  palace  stands  at  the  south  side  of  the  native 
city.  The  approach  is  through  a  park,  covered  with  a  greener  and 
smoother  sward,  we  imagine,  than  even  England  or  Holland  can 
exhibit.  Five  hundred  deer  are  seen  reclining  or  feeding  under  the 
lofty  shade-trees.  The  palace  is  said  to  be  on  the  model  of  Blen- 
heim— however  this  may  be,  we  recognize  the  plan  of  our  own  Cap- 
itol at  Washington.  Like  every  thing  else  in  this  favorite  Dutch 
colony,  it  happily  combines  good  taste  with  elegance  and  comfort. 
The  governor-general  has  received  us  very  kindly,  although  not 
without  something  of  the  stiffness  of  official  ceremony.  The  ladies 
seem  to  regard  us  as  an  accession,  not  unwelcome,  to  a  society  cir- 
cumscribed and  somewhat  monotonous. 

The  Dutch  East  Indies  are  ruled  absolutely  by  directions  from 
the  Hague.  Practically,  the  governor-general  is  viceroy.  At  the 
time  of  the  conquest,  two  native  sovereigns,  with  the  pompous 
titles  of  sultan  and  emperor,  divided  the  island  between  them,  one 
of  the  territories  being  known  as  Java,  the  other  as  Sunda.  The 
descendants  of  each  of  these  sovereigns  being  subsidized,  though 
really  divested  of  power,  retain  certain  contracted  domains,  with 
titular  rank,  in  subordination  to  the  authority  of  the  Dutch  Govern- 
ment. Several  other  native  kings,  subsidized  in  the  same  way, 
have  a  somewhat  similar  domain  ^nd  tenure.  With  these  qualifica- 
tions, the  executive  government  is  administered  by  the  governor- 


288 


THE  EASTERN   ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 


general,  with  the  aid  of  an  executive  council  appointed  bj  the 
Home  government. 

The  Dutch,  not  without  severe  and  frequent  contests  with  the 
natives,  have  held  sway  here  since  the  year  1610,  with  only  an 
interval  of  from  1811  to  1816,  when  among  the  events  of  the 
Napoleonic  war  in  Europe,  Holland  having  passed  under  the  con- 
trol of  France,  Java  was  seized  and  held  for  five  years  by  Great 
Britain. 

January  \^th. — Shall  we  note  the  climatic  features  of  Java  ? 
It  has  no  spring  and  no  autumn — only  summer  and  winter.     It 


tlLY  POND,   PALAOE  QEOUNDS,    JAVA, 


THE  BOTAN"I0AL   GARDENS.  289 

rains  all  summer,  and  is  comparatively  dry  during  tlie  harvest- 
time  in  winter.  The  present  season  is  the  summer.  It  rained  so 
constantly  yesterday  that  we  could  not  enter  a  carriage,  or  step 
on  the  ground.  This  morning,  Governor-General  Myer,  with  the 
ladies,  gave  us  a  drive  in  the  botanical  gardens  attached  to  the 
palace.  All  the  world  knows  that  they  are  scientifically  planted, 
but  why  give  them  a  technical  name  ?  They  are  of  princely  di- 
mensions, and  are  inconceivably  magnificent,  for  they  contain,  or 
are  understood  to  contain,  every  attainable  tropical  tree,  plant,  or 
flower.  Of  the  palm  alone  there  are  a  hundred  species.  Dense 
groves  of  tree-ferns  are  interlaced  with  myriads  of  orchids,  cov- 
ered with  what  one  might  well  imagine  to  be  the  very  flowers  of 
paradise,  and  we  were  at  a  loss  to  say  which  form  of  life  in  the 
tropics,  the  vegetable  or  the  animal,  excels  in  color.  Man's  hand 
has  planted  and  trained  the  trees  and  flowers,  but  the  gorgeous 
troops  of  birds  which  inhabit  them  are  voluntary  residents  there, 
making  the  shade  "vocal  with  their  music."  These  groves  are 
interspersed  with  lakes,  whose  waters  murmur  under  the  per- 
fumed pressure  of  the  crimson  lily  and  the  sacred  lotus.  These 
lakes  are  the  homes  of  some  varieties  of  tropical  birds ;  swans, 
black  and  white,  are  domesticated  in  them ;  and  the  cockatoo, 
with'  his  creamy  plumage,  seems  unconscious  of  imprisonment  in 
his  spacious  gilded  cage,  so  constructed  as  to  afibrd  him  ample 
sunshine  and  cool  bath. 

Alighting  from  our  carriages,  we  took  a  path  which  leads 
through  a  bamboo-grove  so  dense  that  the  down  which  its  delicate 
leaves  cast  on  the  smooth  gravel  takes  the  form  of  a  tender  moss. 
This  moss,  taking  root,  interweaves  so  closely  that  it  is  not  de- 
ranged by  the  footstep.  The  very  air  of  this  fairy  grove  seemed 
to  us  to  hold  a  soothing  verdure.  But  it  is  not  alone  in  the  lakes, 
groves,  and  lawns,  that  the  feathered  race  contents  itself  at  Buiten- 
zorg : 

"  This  guest  of  summer, 
The  temple-haunting  martlet  does  approve 
By  his  loved  masonry,  that  heaven's  breath 
Smiles  sweet  and  wooingly  here." 


290 


THE   EASTERN   ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 


At  sunset,  thousands  of  martins  gather  for  the  night  under  the 
eaves  of  the  palace.  Sitting  closely  to  each  other,  they  are  mistaken 
by  a  careless  observer  for  a  blackened  bead,  which  extends  without 
break  around  the  cornice  of  the  entire  edifice.     Perhaps  we  dilate 


TROPICA!.  FOLIAGE,   JAVA. 


too  much  on  tropical  !N"ature,  but  its  first  efiect  upon  all  minds  is 
to  excite  a  wish  never  to  leave  it.  We  almost  contracted  for  at 
least  an  occasional  home  at  E^agasaki.  We  left  Hong-Kong  and 
Singapore  reluctantly ;  but  Batavia,  and  more  than  all  Buitenzorg, 
wins  our  thoughts  irresistibly  away  from  all  that  is  practical  in  life, 
to  delight  in  repose  and  serene  contemplation. 

The  truth,  however,  is,  that  the  admiration  of  tropical  scenery, 
though  universal,  wears  oflf  as  suddenly  as  it  comes.     We  have  not 


JAVANESE   FRUIT. 


291 


thus  far  found  an  American  or  European  content  with  a  genial 
clime.  The  merchant,  mariner,  or  missionary,  even  the  women 
and  children,  stay  here  against  their  wills,  and  wait  impatiently  for 
their  release  this  month  or  the  next,  or,  at  farthest,  this  year  or  the 
next. 

If  we  should  forget  every  thing  else  at  Buitenzorg,  we  are  not 
likely  to  forget  its  baths.     Leaving  the  palace-door,  and  driving   , 
through  a  winding,  palm-shaded  lane,  we  came  to   the  bamboo- 
grove.     Dismissing   carriage  and  attendants  there,  we  penetrated 


JAVANESE  FKtriT. 


to  its  dark  centre,  by  a  tangled  foot-path.  There  we  found  a 
marble  basin,  eighty  feet  across,  filled  with  flowing  water.  The 
depth  is  regulated  at  will,  and  a  slight  bamboo  rail  is  stretched 


292 


THE   EASTERN   ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 


across  the  basin  for  security  against  accident.  Tall  palm-trees  pro- 
tect the  bather  from  the  sun,  while  the  surrounding  grove  is  an 
impenetrable  screen.  Coming  out  of  the  bath,  we  picked  up  what 
we  thought  to  be  a  green  walnut.  On  removing  the  hard,  acVid 
shell,  pungent  scarlet  mace  betrayed  itself;  breaking  through  this, 
and  the  inner  shell,  which  it  covered,  a  fragrant,  white,  milky  pulp 
disclosed  the  incipient  nutmeg. 


SCENE  IN   JAVA. 


CHAPTER  III. 

EXCURSION  INTO    THE  INTERIOR. 

A  Balking  Horse. — Cultivation.of  Rice. — Tropical  Flowers. — Surabaya. — The  Regent  Pra- 
wiro, — Dutch  Colonization. — How  Java  is  governed. — Bandong. — The  Regent  and 
the  Interpreter. — A  Gouty  Monarch. — The  Regent's  Income. — How  he  spends  it. 

Surabaya,  January  ^\st. — The  governor-general  and  his  esti- 
mable family  dismissed  us,  after  a  very  early  breakfast,  on  an  ex- 
cursion which  is  affording  us  an  opportunity  to  see  something  of  the 
mountains,  and  more  of  the  simple  people  of  this  beautiful  island. 

Still  travelling  in  Mr.  Pell's  spacious  coach,  with  government 
orders  for  relays,  we  drove  rapidly  througli  the  quaint  and  quiet 
streets  of  the  pretty  little  city  of  Buitenzorg.  So  long  as  we  kept 
the  plain,  we  had  only  one  annoyance — a  balking  horse — one  of 
eight.  Peasantry,  at  every  halt,  assisted  tbe  lopers  in  rolling  the 
heavy  carriage  against  the  refactory  animal's  heels,  and  so,  whether 
he  willed  to  go  or  not,  we  got  on.  Crossing  a  small  stream,  we 
climbed  irregular  volcanic  mountains,  and  came  through  a  gorge 
between  two  of  them ;  the  oneseven  thousand  feet  high,  the  other 
four  thousand.  The  mountain-sides  are  terraced  with  rice-fields, 
one  above  the  other.  These  fields  were  covered  with  standing 
water.  The  successive  terraces  show  the  crop  at  every  stage  of  its 
growth.  On  the  upper  terrace,  the  young  plant  is  seen,  resembling 
grass  just  sprouted  from  the  seed ;  on  the  level  just  below,  single 
stalks  of  rice  just  transplanted  ;  below  this,  fields  of  the  grain  at 
successive  periods  of  its  growth  ;  until,  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain, 

23 


294:  THE  EASTERN  ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 

it  is  already  ripened,  and  ready  for  the  knife.  We  say  the  I'mfe, 
for  neither  cradle,  nor  scythe,  nor  sickle,  is  used  in  the  rice-fields 
in  Java,  The  Koran  commands  the  husbandman  to  cut  oif  each 
individual  stalk  singly.  This  injunction  the  pious  Moslem  never 
disobeys. 

E.ice-cultivation  is  a  very  laborious  process.  A  prairie  farmer, 
we  think,  would  despair,  if  he  were  obliged  to  transplant  his  wheat- 
crop  from  its  first  bed,  plant  by  plant ;  he  would  die,  if  it  were 
necessary  to  water  it,  even  once  during  its  growth.  It  would  be 
left  to  rot  in  the  field  if  he  were  denied  a  "  reajier,"  or  at  least  a 
cradle  or  sickle ;  it  would  waste  in  the  barn  or  stack  if  he  could  not 
procure  a  threshing-machine  or  a  fanning-mill.  On  the  other  hand, 
here  each  blade  of  rice  is  remaved  to  a  new  bed,  and  from  its  plant- 
ing until  its  ripening  it  is  irrigated  once  every  day.  When  it  is 
gathered,  the  kernels  are  separated  from  the  husk  by  hand.  Not- 
withstanding this  vast  labor,  rice  is  the  chief  production,  as  it  is  the 
chief  food  of  all  the  Asiatic  races,  constituting  half  the  population 
of  the  globe.  The  cause  of  the  productiveness  of  Java  (greater 
than  that  of  any  portion  of  the  earth)  readily  discloses  itself  to  the 
most  careless  observer  as  he  passes  through  the  country.  It  is  a 
combination  of  equatorial  heat,  volcanic  soil,  and  perennial  moun- 
tain-streams. These  rivulets  are  subdivided  at  their  springs,  and 
conducted  around  and  down  the  winding  terraces  to  the  base  of  the 
mountain,  where  they  are  in  like  manner  gathered  and  poured  in 
sparkling  cascades  down  the  steep  declivity  ;  then  to  be  again  sub- 
divided, and  made  to  perform  the  same  gentle  service  as  before  to 
successive  terraces  below. 

We  know  well  enough  the  slow  progress  of  science  and  art  at 
home,  but  who  taught  this  Malay  peasantry  this  skill  in  hydraulics, 
which  surpasses  that  of  any  civilized  people  ? 

We  are  now  seeing  that  we  might  have  spared  ourselves  the 
trouble  of  threading  the  walks  of  the  botanical  gardens  at  Bui- 
tenzorg.  All  around  us,  every  way  we  turn,  whichever  way  we 
look,  are  innumerable  species  of  palm,  the  great  banyan,  exquisite 
tree-ferns  thirty  or  forty  feet  high,  sparkling  with  parasitic  flowers ; 
fragrant  hedges  of  heliotrope  fifteen  feet  high,  now  in  full  bloom — 


AN  EQUATORIAL  PHENOMENON.  295 

not  monotonous  blue  as  witli  us,  but  of  every  color  and  hue — alter- 
nating with  other  hedges  of  the  grotesque  cactus  of  a  hundred 
shapes  and  equally  splendid  in  bloom.  Every  one  is  familiar  with 
the  lily  of  the  valley,  but  we  find  here  the  lily  of  the  mountain,  a 
stately  flower  giving  out  even  a  sweeter  odor  than  its  little  name- 
sake. Mountains  shine  with  white  lilies,  and  lakes  with  the  incom- 
parable lotus.  Although  coffee-plantations  spread  a  broad,  dark 
shadow  behind  flowery  hedges,  yet  the  bright  green  rice-fields  are 
never  out  of  the  landscape.  Where  these  allow  space,  there  aie 
meadows  gay  with  azaleas  of  infinite  variety,  set  in  borders  of  pink 
and  white  and  crimson  oleanders,  which  attain  here  the  stature  of 
the  magnolia. 

We  have  found  rest  and  refreshment  at  the  village  of  Surabaya, 
a  pleasant  resort  in  a  mountain  amphitheatre,  for  the  dwellers  on 
the  sea-coast.  The  clearing  up  of  a  rain-stonn  has  just  given  us, 
instead  of  the  rainbow,  an  equatorial  phenomenon — a  broad,  pris- 
matic column,  stretching  from  the  centre  of  the  heavens,  quite 
down  the  mountain-side,  resting  on  the  plain  below  and  flooding 
the  valley  with  a  gorgeous  light. 

The  tahle  cPhote  does  not  diff'er,  either  in  pretension,  costliness, 
or  meagreness,  from  like  service  at  Catskill  or  other  mountain 
resorts  in  our  own  country. 

Sjiandjioer,  January  '^\st. — We  left  our  balky  horse  at  Sura- 
baya. A  brake,  with  an  iron  shoe,  was  fixed  on  a  hind-wheel.  Not- 
withstanding these  checks,  we  were  rolling  rapidly  down  into  the 
next  valley,  when  the  alarm  sounded  that  a  wheel  was  on  fire.  It 
was  extinguished,"  and  we  were  thundering  forward  with  greater 
velocity  than  before,  when  we  had  another  fright — the  chain  of  the 
shoe  broke.  A  rope  of  bufiiilo  hide  was  substituted  for  it,  and  we 
had  scarcely  taken  the  road  again,  when  the  shoe  itself  gave  way. 
But,  with  careful  driving,  and  our  lopers  holding  us  back,  we 
escaped  harm.  So  at  six  o'clock  we  entered  this  very  pretty  vil- 
lage, which,  although  a  native  one,  is  laid  out  in  streets  and  squares, 
with  that  degree  of  geometrical  precision,  and  ornamented  with 
that  peculiar  taste,,  which  is  everywhere  so  observable  in  the  Neth- 


296 


THE   EASTERN   ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 


erlands.  The  governor-general  having  dispatched  notice  of  our 
coming,  and  also  sent  with  us  his  young  kinsman  Mr.  Lowe,  we 
were  met  outside  of  the  town  by  a  native  subaltern  officer,  in  Dutch 
uniform,  and  conducted  to  the  palace  in  the  centre  of  a  park  larger 
than  the  Capitol-grounds  at  "Washington.  Here,  under  a  tasteful 
porte-cochere,  we  were  received  by  the  Regent  Prawiro  da  Kedya. 
He  is  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  long-since  dethroned  Kings  of  Pad- 
jadjura  in  the  western  empire  of  Java,  and  bears  the  titular  hon- 


THE   REGENT   PRAWIKO    DA   KEDYA. 


ors  of  Radhe  Sonnengoniz.  The  regent  is  thirty  years  old,  digni- 
fied and  handsome,  and  has  pleasing  mannei*s.  A  Mohammedan, 
he  wears  a  turban  of  orange  and  black  muslin,  a  tight  black-cloth 
jacket,  with  large  gold  buttons,  and  a  standing  collar,  on  which 
sparkle  three  enormous  diamonds,  and  with  the  whitest  of  linen 
at  neck  and  wrist.  A  sarong  of  gay-colored  muslin,  painted  with 
figures  emblematic  of  his  rank,  hangs  from  his  waist  over  black 
trousers.     White  stockings  and  gold-embroidered  velvet  shoes  com- 


DUTCH  COLONIZATIOK  297 

plete  his  dress.     He  wears  at  his  side  a  short  sword,  with  scabbard 
of  gold,  and  hilt  profusely  covered  with  diamonds. 

Owing  to  the  humidity  of  the  climate,  a  customary  law  of  land- 
scape gardening  is  so  far  reversed  that  the  area  which  immediately 
surrounds  the  palace,  although  ornamented  with  trees,  is  paved 
with  gravel  instead  of  being  a  green  lawn.  The  palace,  one  story 
in  height,  is  equal  in  its  dimensions  to  the  White  House.  The 
model  and  style  of  the  buildings  are  perfect,  but  the  materials  are 
fragile,  and  the  construction  unsubstantial  and  cheap.  There  is  a 
ludicrous  contrast  between  the  vaulted  ceiling  resting  on  a  double 
row  of  graceful  columns,  and  the  rough,  uneven  bamboo  floor  so 
light  that  the  whole  house  trembles  under  every  footstep.  The  fur- 
niture, entirely  European,  plain  and  ill  selected,  must  have  been 
supplied  by  some  second-hand  dealer  in  Amsterdam.  Our  princely 
host  showed  us  our  several  apartments.  The  dinner  at  which  he 
presided  had  the  substantial  character  of  a  European  feast  with 
the  addition  of  the  curry,  fruits,  and  sweets,  of  the  island.  After 
leaving  the  table  we  were  serenaded  by  a  band  of  native  musicians. 
Their  music  is  derived  from  Hindostan.  The  instruments  are 
reeds,  bells,  and  a  sort  of  violin.  The  tones  are  soft  and  monoto- 
nous, and  free  from  discord,  with  a  barely  perceptible  melody.  Too 
weary  to  sit  through  the  protracted  entertainment,  we  retired  to 
rest,  with  the  strains  still  .falling  on  our  ears  like  the  rustling  of  a 
gentle  wind  through  the  tree-tops. 

Sjiandjioer,  January  226?. — Dutch  colonization  has  a  story  as 
simple  as  its  results  are  wonderful.  The  Netherlands  Government 
seventy  or  eighty  years  ago  acquired  the  Dutch  East  India  Com- 
pany's titles  to  its  possessions  in  the  East,  and  substituted  itself 
in  the  place  of  that  great  mercantile  establishment.  Using  the 
national  force  as  occasion  required  to  perfect  and  maintain  acqui- 
sitions, they  brought  the  whole  of  Java  under  their  political  rule. 
Having  done  this,  the  Government  appropriated  absolutely  to  the 
crown  whatever  lands  were  unoccupied.  They  compounded  with 
the  two  native  sovereigns  before  mentioned  and  their  vassal  kings 
for  the  management  of  the  estates  which  were  under  cultivation, 


298  THE   EASTERN   ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 

and  the  disposal  of  their  products.  After  this,  they  gradually 
extinguished  by  purchase  the  rights  of  the  native  proprietors,  and 
so  have  been  continually  enlarging  the  royal  domain.  By  way  of 
commending  their  rule  to  the  natives,  they  have  left  to  the  fam- 
ilies of  the  dispossessed  rulers  not  only  a  titular  rank,  but  they 
have  employed  their  chiefs  in  the  management  of  their  several 
estates,  allowing  to  each  the  official  honor  of  regent,  and  actually 
associating  him  with  the  Dutch  residente  or  governor.  The  resi- 
dente  exercises  the  real  power,  but  ostensibly  in  the  name  and 
under  the  authority  of  the  native  prince.  The  latter  receives  an 
ample  stipend,  which  enables  him  to  maintain  a  show  of  his 
hereditary  dignity,  and  in  consideration  of  which  he  entertains 
all  the  Government  agents  and  their  visitors  at  his  palace.  The 
Dutch  residente  directs  through  the  native  regent  what  seed  shall 
be  sown  on  every  plantation,  how  and  when  the  harvest  shall  be 
gathered,  what  wages  shall  be  paid  to  the  cultivators,  and  disposes 
of  the  products  at  prices  fixed  in  every  case,  by  the  Governor- 
General  and  Council  of  the  Indies.  The  results  of  this  system 
are,  that,  while  the  people  seem  to  be  comfortable  and  contented, 
it  defrays  all  the  expenses  of  local  administration  in  peace  and 
war,  and  pays  an  annual  revenue  of  five  million  dollars  into  the 
national  treasury  at  the  Hague.  Java,  thus  governed,  remains 
what  the  discoverers  found  it,  "  the  garden  of  the  world." 

Bandong,  January  23c?. — Our  host  at  Sjiandjioer  gave  us  at  an 
early  hour  a  cup  of  the  native  cofi^ee,  with  native  sugar,  and  put 
us  on  the  way  in  good  time  this  morning — first,  to  survey  more 
leisurely  than  yesterday  the  little  provincial  capital ;  and  then  to 
continue  our  upward  way  to  the  centre  of  the  island.  The  moun- 
tain-sides which  we  climbed  are  more  abrupt  than  those  we  trav- 
elled on  the  previous  day,  while  the  teeming  population  seems,  if 
possible,  more  simple  and  gentle.  Many  sorts  of  palm  and  cactus 
disappear,  but  the  heliotrope  is  richer  than  ever,  the  tree-ferns 
taller  and  more  beautiful.  We  had  the  various  experiences  of 
mountain-travel — travel  with  six  horses,  with  oxen,  and  with  mixed 
teams  of  horses  and   oxen;  sometimes  we  were  pushed  upward. 


THE  EEGENT  OF  BANDONG.  299 

sometimes  lield  back  with  human  hands  alone ;  sometimes  moved 
hj  the  working  of  the  endless  chain.  We  completed  the  joui'ney 
at  five  o'clock  this  afternoon. 

This  town  is  built  on  the  same  model  as. the  one  last  visited. 
Hardly  had  we  entered  it  before  we  encountered  demonstrative 
evidence  that  the  native  prince,  Wiranarta  Kalsoema  Eadhe  Ade- 
pathe,  Regent  of  Bandong,  is  every  inch  a  king.  His  despotic 
authority  is  reflected  in  the  despondent  countenances  and  de- 
meanor of  his  subjects.  Within  his  dominion  we  were  recognized 
as  his  guests.  No  traveller  on  the  road,  whether  young  or  old, 
whether  a  man  staggering  under  a  heavy  burden,  or  a  woman  with 
a  child  in  her  arms,  passed  us  without  first  receiving  our  permission, 
no  matter  how  slowly  we  might  be  moving,  or  how  long  we  might 
be  stopping.  All  whom  we  met  went  down  on  their  knees  as 
we  approached,  nor  did  they  venture  to  leave  that  posture  or 
even  lift  their  eyes  from  the  ground  until  we  had  passed  by. 
This  was  a  strange  sight  among  a  people  who  are  more  sen- 
sitive than  any  other  on  points  of  personal  dignity.  Every  official 
or  educated  Javanese  wears  a  sword,  not  so  much  to  protect  him- 
self against  the  beasts  of  the  jungle,  as  to  use  it  in  vindication 
of  wounded  self-esteem.  He  is  a  duellist.  So  excitable  is  the  na- 
tional sense  of  honor,  that  no  words  of  insult  or  opprobrium  are 
ever  heard  among  them  without  provoking  instant  chastisement. 
Killing  in  the  duel  is  not  accounted  murder. 

Radhe  Adepathe,  attended  by  a  half-caste  intei-preter,  stood 
waiting  to  receive  us  before  the  palace-door,  under  a  gilded  um- 
brella, of  form  and  dimensions  not  unlike  the  "  sounding-board  " 
of  old-fashioned  New-England  churches.  The  interpreter  inquired 
in  French  whether  the  guests  were  Mr.  Seward  and  family.  Being 
answered,  he  presented  each  of  us  to  the  regent,  who,  with  a  step 
of  conscious  majesty,  conducted  Mr.  Seward  and  the  ladies  individ- 
ually under  the  gorgeous  umbrella,  through  the  portico  and  into 
the  grand  reception-hall  of  the  palace.  He  seemed  seventy  years 
old,  and  was  careles&ly  dressed.  His  countenance  indicated  great 
shrewdness,  his  voice  and  manner  were  studiouslv  deferential.  He 
displayed,  however,  a  disagreeable  impatience  and  even  petulance. 


300  THE   EASTERN   ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 

He  devolved  on  the  interpreter  the  duty  of  showing  us  our  apart- 
ments. We  thought  his  expressions  of  politeness  sinister,  and  con- 
ceived at  once  a  strong  dislike  for  him.  The  overawed  interpreter 
blundered,  and  conducted  each  guest  to  an  apartment  designed  for 
the  other.  The  regent,  discovering  the  mistake,  rose  to  the  frenzy 
of  a  "  Blue  Beard."  He  hobbled  after  us  and  corrected  the  blun- 
der with  vehement  objurgations.  We  did  not  understand  a  word 
of  the  reproof,  but  we  ^11  take  notice  that  the  unlucky  Malay  who 
thus  combined  the  offices  of  interpreter  and  chamberlain,  in  the 
"  royal "  household,  has  not  appeared  since. 

At  seven  o'clock  we  were  summoned  to  the  great  hall,  where  the 
regent  received  us.  What  a  transformation  !  He  was  now  attired 
in  royal  Javanese  costume,  far  more  elaborate  than  that  of  the  Pra- 
wiro  da  Kedya.  His  countenance  was  serene,  his  manner  gentle, 
his  discourse  easy  and  courteous.  He  seemed  twenty  years  younger. 
He  banished  our  dislike  at  once,  by  telling  us,  with  a  humorous 
grimace,  which  none,  but  those  who  have  actually  known  what  the 
twinges  of  the  gout  are,  can  affect,  that  he  is  a  chronic  sufferer  from 
that  malady.  When  our  host  was  seated  in  the  centre  of  the  room, 
three  male  dwarfs,  neatly  dressed  in  native  scarlet  livery,  with  tur- 
baned  heads  and  naked  feet,  timidly  entered  and  crouched  on  the 
floor  behind  their  master.  One  held  a  sword  and  folded  umbrella, 
another,  a  box  filled  with  smoking-tobacco,  pipes,  and  cigars ;  the 
third,  a  brazier  of  charcoal.  The  three  mutely  and  unceasingly 
studied  the  varying  expressions  of  the  regent's  face.  A  Malay 
served  first  schnapps,  then  port-wine  and  madeira.  Dwarf  num- 
ber two  now  offered  pipes,  cigars,  and  cigarettes ;  thereupon  the 
regent  ejaculated  "  Appee,"  when  the  brazier-bearing  pigmy  sprang 
quickly  forward.  In  obeying  a  command,  each  dwarf,  as  he  ap- 
proached master  or  guest,  dropped  on  his  knees  and  bowed  his  fore- 
head to  the  floor,  then  assuming  a  natural  position,  made  the  ser- 
vice required.  When  it  was  completed  he  performed  a  "  salam," 
and  crept  backward  to  his  place  behind  the  regent.  Not  only 
these  dwarfs,  but  each  servant  in  the  palace,  the  regent's  own  son 
and  heir,  a  youth  of  twenty-one,  and  every  native  admitted  to  the 
presence,  practises  the  same  servile  obeisance.     The  chief,  on  his 


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THE   REGENT'S   INCOME. 


301 


part,  does  not  deign  to  incline  his  head  toward  the  servant,  child, 
or  subject,  to  whom  he  speaks,  but,  on  the  contrary,  aflectedly 
looks  away  from  or  beyond  him. 

The  palace,  the  grounds,  and  the  town  dependent  on  it,  are 
much  more  spacious  than  those  at  Sjiandjioer,  and  abound  with 
evidences  of  the  regent's  wealth.  His  annual  stipend  is  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  thousand  guilders,  about  eighty  thousand  dollars. 
At  first  it  puzzled  us  to  know  how  a  barbarian  can  use  such  an  in- 
come, but  we  were  not  long  in  finding  a  solution.  In  part,  it  is 
laid  out  in  gems  and  jewels  for  personal  ostentation,  in  part  for  the 
support  of  his  family,  in  part  for  maintaining  his  corps  of  "  baya- 
deres "  (ballet  and  singing  girls),  and  a  band  of  musicians,  in  part 
in  keeping  up  the  most  costly  stud  on  the  island,  and  the  residue 
in  support  of  a  large  number  of  relations  and  dependants.  The 
crescent  dominates  everywhere  in  Java,  and  doubtless  the  mosque 
draws  heavily  on  the  princely  revenues. 

After  an  elaborate  dinner,  the  day  has  ended,  as  at  Sjiandjioer, 
with  a  native  serenade. 


A   nOSTELEY    IN   JAVA. 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

MR.   SEWARD  AT  BAN  DONG. 

Excursion  to  the  Cascade. — A  Perilous  Road. — The  Water-Fall. — An  Evening  at  the 
Palace.— The  Bayaderes. — Two  Dwarfs. — A  Chorus  of  Peasants.— The  Little  Prin- 
cesses.— An  Excursion  to  Tankoeban. — Peruvian  Bark. — The  Top  of  the  Volcano. 
— An  Enchanting  Scene. — The  Javanese  Prince. 

Bandong,  January  23c?. — It  rained  all  night.  Bad  as  we  knew 
the  roads  must  be,  the  regent  nevertheless  ordered  out  his  immense 
European  carriage,  with  six  horses,  for  an  excursion  to  the  "  Cas- 
cade," which  is  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  island.  We  were  attended 
by  a  detachment  of  heavy  dragoons  in  Dutch  uniforms,  barefooted 
postilions,  and  turbaned  footmen.  At  the  foot  of  every  hill,  and 
at  every  slough,  a  crowd  of  peasants  appeared,  as  if  summoned  by 
previous  command,  to  drag  or  push  our  unwilling  wheels.  It  was 
like  a  royal  progress,  such  as  Queen  Elizabeth  used  to  make  in  the 
sixteenth  century. 

Twelve  miles  from  the  town,  we  found  twenty-five  saddle- 
horses,  a  complement  of  sedan-chairs,  and  fifty  peasants,  awaiting 
us.  Taking  so  many  of  these  animals,  vehicles,  and  men,  as  we  had 
need  of,  we  descended  successive  hills  terraced  with  pale-green  rice- 
fields,  and  glossy  dark  cofi'ee-groves.  The  mounted  members  of 
the  party  agree  that,  in  all  their  experience,  they  never  had  so  per- 
ilous an  exercise ;  but  the  horses,  as  well  as  the  bearers  of  the 
chairs,  were  well  trained  and  sure  of  foot.  Although  an  animal 
occasionally  stumbled,  and  a  chair-bearer  lost  his  balance,  we  never- 


A  WATER-FALL.  303 

theless  accompjislied  the  journey  down  the  slippery  precipices  with- 
out serious  accident. 

The  river  Groote  forms  the  canal  which  we  have  described  at 
Batavia.  That  river  here  bears  the  euphonious  name  of  Tjoerock 
Tjikapoendoeng.  The  torrents  by  which  it  is  formed  meet  in  the 
gorges  above  this  place,  and  it  makes  a  perpendicular  leap  of  sev- 
enty feet  into  a  dell,  the  sides  of  which  are  studded  with  lofty  tree- 
ferns  festooned  with  orchids.  The  cascade  in  form  and  movement 
has  a  parallel  in  some  of  the  many  leaps  of  the  West  Canada  Creek 
at  Trenton,  but  its  forest  surroundings  can  have  their  like  nowhere 
but  within  the  tropics.  After  the  first  pleasing  impression  of  the 
scene  was  over,  we  compared  notes  together,  saying  how  absurd  it 
must  seem  that  we,  who  live  almost  in  sound  of  Niagara,  should 
have  come  this  long  distance  to  see  a  petty  water-fall  under  the 
equator.  Soon,  however,  w,e  were  made  to  understand  that,  for 
those  to  whom  our  cataract  of  thunder  is  unknown,  this  shining 
cascade  is  worthy  of  all  admiration.  The  imagination  of  the  na- 
tives has  peopled  the  dell  with  gentle  fairies  of  the  air,  and  loving 
water-sprites.  The  Dutch  gentleman  who  accompanied  us  had 
never  seen  any  water-falls  but  the  waste-weirs  of  the  canals  in 
Holland.  He  was  awe-stricken  in  the  presence  of  Tjoerock  Tjika- 
poendoeng. While  to  us  the  combination  of  sparkling  water, 
dainty  ferns,  and  breathing  flowers  was  simply  beautiful,  it  was 
for  him  sublime.  So  it  is  that  accident  or  circumstance  often 
determines  our  tastes  and  sentiments. 

This  evening  the  regent  conducted  us  to  the  private  palace  in 
which  his  family  reside.  Apologizing  for  his  wife's  absence  by 
reason  of  indisposition,  he  placed  us  in  the  centre  of  a  spacious  and 
lofty  hall,  softly  lighted  with  tinted  globe  lamps,  and  graced  with  a 
curious  medley  of  portraits  of  European  celebrities — among  them 
the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  Queen  of  the  Netherlands,  Jenny  Lind, 
and  Lola  Montez.  We  were  the  only  guests.  A  band  of  twenty- 
five  native  musicians  was  stationed  on  the  porch.  Hundreds  of 
the  peasantry  of  Bandong  crowded  the  guard  in  front.  The  musi- 
cians played,  in  a  low  tone,  a  recitative  accompaniment.  Soon  after 
this  began,  four  "  bayaderes,"  one  after  the  other,  glided  into  the 


304 


THE   EASTERN   ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 


room,  with  a  movement  in  harmony  with  the  music.  They  were" 
apparently  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  had  that  "  golden  "  complex- 
ion which  in  the  East  is  the  highest  type  of  beauty.  The  regent 
explained  that  the  "  bayadere  "  amusement  was  derived  from  the 
ancient  Hindoos.  The  costume  of  the  performers  has  the  same 
origin.  It  consists  of  a  long,  scant  scarlet  skirt,  fastened  above  the 
waist,  and  falling  in  folds  quite  over  the  bare  feet.  A  stiffened 
band  of  scarlet  and  gold,  ten  inches  wide,  is  drawn  tightly  about 
the  waist,  fitting  just  under  the  shoulder-blades,  leaving  the  arms 
and  shoulders  entirely  bare.  The  monture  was  a  burnished  helmet. 
Wondering  at  this  barbaric  magnificence,  Mr.  Seward  asked  the 


DASCING-C08TUME. 


regent  whether  the  helmet  was  gilded.  He  quickly  answered  in 
Javanese,  that  not  only  the  helmet,  but  also  the  heavy  girdle,  the 
bracelets,  and  anklets,  were  of  solid  gold,  and  added  in  English, 
"  California."     Three  ballets  were  performed  ;  it  was  not  difficult 


A  JAVANESE   TOM   THUMB. 


305 


to  understand  the  spirit  of  each.  The  first,  gav  and  joyous,  repre- 
sented a  nuptial  ceremony  ;  the  second,  energetic  and  vigorous,  a 
battle,  with  ambuscade,  surprise,  struggle,  and  victory ;  the  third, 


DANCING-OIKL. 


deep-toned  and  measured,  a  funeral  pageant.  The  dancing  con- 
sisted of  slow  and  varied  posturing  and  extravagant  gesticulation, 
to  the  broken  and  imperfect  time  of  the  wild  music.  The  "  baya- 
deres "  were  not  the  only  performers  of  the  evening.  There  were 
two  dwarfs,  the  eldest  thirty  years  old,  well  proportioned  and  agile, 
and  a  counterpart  of  Tom  Thumb.  In  the  other,  the  peculiar 
Malay  figure  and  features  were  exaggerated  to  absolute  deformity. 
The  regent  took  especial  delight  in  this  lusus  naturce,  and  laughed 
immoderately  at  the  little  creature's  big  head  and  bandy  legs.  We, 
who  at  home  are  more  pained  than  pleased  by  the  exhibitions  of 
General  Tom  Thumb  and  his  Liliputian  wife,  could  not  sympathize 
here  with  the  barbarian  prince.  It  was  with  difficulty  that  we  sup- 
pressed our  disgust  when  the  pitiable  dwarfs  were  put  forward  as 


306  THE   EASTERN   ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 

harlequins  in  the  historical   pantomimes  which  the  "  bayaderes " 
were  executing. 

Dwarfs  here  remain  the  same  important  personages  they  were 
in  European  courts  three  hundred  years  ago.  "We  ought  to 
have  mentioned  that  the  Eadhe  Adepathe  maintains  seven  of 
them. 

The  performance  of  the  night  had  a  very  pleasing  interlude. 
While  the  artistes  were  resting  in  the  intervals,  the  guard  at  the 
door  opened  the  way  to  a  chorus  of  peasants.  They  executed  a 
grotesque  dance,  which  gave  unbounded  delight,  not  only  to  our- 
selves, but  to  the  unbidden  native  spectators  outside.  In  the  midst 
of  this  diversion,  two  children  of  the  regent,  girls  of  four  and  five, 
and  very  small,  came  in  with  their  attendants,  dressed  in  queenly 
satin  robes  and  jewels.  He  presented  them  to  us  with  manifest 
pride,  and,  although  they  trembled  during  the  ceremony,  they  per- 
formed their  little  parts  with  all  the  formality  of  women. 

We  saw  the  "  bayadere  "  in  Japan,  and  have  now  seen  her  in 
Java.  She  is,  as  we  understand,  a  universal  character  in  the  East. 
Before  the  innovations  of  Buddha,  the  Bramins  were  an  exclu- 
sive religious  class  in  India.  They  constituted  a,  priesthood,  like 
the  family  of  Aaron  among  the  Jews.  Descended  from  the  gods, 
their  persons  were  sacred.  By  a  cunning  artifice,  they  reconciled 
their  followers  to  the  consecration  of  women  to  their  service. 
These  women  were  selected  at  an  early  age  from  the  highest  fami- 
lies, reared  and  educated  in  the  temples  in  the  feminine  arts  and 
accomplishments,  as  well  as  in  mysteries  of  religion.  Such  were 
originally  the  "  bayaderes."  If  Madame  Eoland,  in  view  of  the 
agonies  of  the  state  of  France,  exclaimed,  "  O  Liberty,  what 
crimes  are  committed  in  thy  name !  "  how  much  more  might  we 
exclaim,  in  view  of  this  wicked  imposture,,  what  crime  has  not 
superstition  perpetrated  against  the  virtue  of  the  human  race! 
While,  as  we  are  told,  the  institution  among  the  Hindoos  retains 
its  religious  character,  it  has  been  copied  without  that  character 
throughout  the  East,  whatever  forms  of  religion  may  prevail.  A 
troupe  of  bayaderes  is  considered  a  necessary  ornament  in  the 
court  of  every  prince,  and  in  all  rich  families.     They  are  allowed 


THE   VOLCANO  OF   TANKOEBAN.  307 

the  education  and  accomplishments  which  are  denied  the  sex  gen- 
erally, without  being  held  to  the  practice  of  virtue. 

January  '^■ith. — An  excursion  to-day  with  the  same  cortege 
and  retinue  as  yesterday,  to  the  smouldering  volcano  of  Tankoe- 
ban.  What  a  transformation  in  the  person  of  the  young  prince ! 
Hitherto  we  had  seen  him  barefooted,  and  in  a  mean  sarong,  kneel- 
ing and  lying  at  his  father's  feet  like  a  slave.  To-day  he  has  donned 
a  manly  and  even  princely  costume.  Booted  and  spm-red,  he 
mounted  a  spirited  horse,  and  led  our  expedition. 

Leaving  our  carriages  in  a  pretty  village,  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountain,  and  taking  saddle-horses  and  chairs,  we  made  the  ascent 
in  five  hours,  by  an  excavated  zigzag  path,  the  construction  of 
which  would  have  been  impossible  for  any  engineer  other  than  a 
Javanese  practised  in  the  science  of  mountain-irrigation.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  ascent,  we  were  at  the  elevation  which  the  coiFee- 
tree  most  affects.  The  orchards  are  very  luxuriant ;  rising  a  hun- 
dred feet  higher,  we  came  to  a  plain  covered  with  the  Cinchona 
calisaya,  as  the  tree  is  called,  which  furnishes  the  medicine  known 
world-wide  as  the  Peruvian  bark,  in  its  various  forms.  The  culture 
has  been  introduced  here,  quite  recentl}^,  from  Bolivia.  The  trees 
are  yet  young,  and  we  are  unable  to  determine  their  ultimate  size. 
The  Besident  informs  us  that  the  enterprise  has  already  proved  a 
success.  He  has  shipped  more  than  seven  tons  of  the  bark  to  Hol- 
land, taken  from  only  the  smaller  branches  or  twigs  of  the  trees. 
The  next  plateau  gave  us  a  view  of  the  sugar  cultivation  ;  a  still 
higher  one  yields  cabbages,  potatoes,  and  other  esculents  for  the 
supply  of  the  markets  on  the  sea-shore.  JSTative  timber  grows 
upon  the  mountain-sides  to  the  very  summit,  five  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea.  The  forests  are  chiefly  of  teak ;  the  undergrowth, 
tree-ferns,  with  a  great  variety  of  flowering  and  fruit-bearing 
vines.  We  recognize  the  raspberry,  although  not  belonging  to 
any  species  cultivated  with  us.  Troops  of  peasantry  went  before 
us  and  prepared  the  way  by  cutting  steps  on  the  most  rugged 
declivities. 

We  reached,  at  last,  a  plain  covered  with  flre-blasted  trees ;  sul- 

24 


308  THE  EASTERN  ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 

phiirous  fumes  impregnated  the  atmosphere,  and  a  clammy  moist- 
ure cliilled  us  through  and  through.  Following  a  circuitous  path 
through  this  desolate  scene,  we  reached  the  brink  of  the  double  cra- 
ter, four  or  five  miles  in  circumference  and  one  thousand  feet  deep. 
There  have  been  two  eruptions  in  such  close  proximity  that  only  a 
low  ridge  or  promontory  separates  the  craters.  At  the  bottom  of 
either  crater,  there  is  a  dark,  yellow  lake — or,  rather,  ihere  is  one 
lake  extending  over  the  bottoms  of  both — divided  by  a  natural 
bridge.  On  the  north  shore  or  beach  of  this  double  lake,  open 
chasms  send  up,  from  fiery  springs,  through  dense  clouds  of  smoke, 
a  perpetual  column  of  blazing  sulphur.  Another  spring,  somewhat 
higher,  seethes  like  a  vast  furnace,  as  it  pours  forth  column  after 
column  of  mingled  mud  and  gaseous  fluid,  with  reverberating 
sounds  like  thunder.  The  banks  of  solid  rock  are  almost  perpen- 
dicular. Gathering  clouds,  driven  by  strong  winds  from  the  west- 
ward, when  they  reach  the  precipice,  roll  in  broad  volumes  down 
its  sides  into  the  abyss ;  absorbing,  then,  the  sulphurous  fumes, 
they  rise  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  crater,  charged  with  their  min- 
eral burden,  which  they  distribute,  on  their  return  to  the  upper  air. 
While  contemplating  these  gigantic  eflibrts  of  Nature,  continued 
through  ages,  to  resume  her  lost  tranquillity  and  silence,  we  were 
shivering  with  cold  and  hunger.  The  plain  surrounding  the  vol- 
cano, and  indeed  the  entire  surface  of  the  mountain-summit,  though 
covered  with  such  vegetation  as  the  mineral  blasts  allow  to  flourish, 
is  incrusted  with  volcanic  ashes,  like  those  which  buried  Pompeii 
and  other  cities  on  the  slopes  of  Vesuvius.  In  descending,  we 
peered  constantly  through  the  jforest,  to  get  sight  of  the  tiger, 
which  is  the  terror  of  the  island.  Our  guides,  though  armed 
against  him,  informed  us  that  the  beast  has  become  wary,  and  no 
longer  attacks  men  in  bands. 

Earth  can  have  no  scene  more  enchanting  than  the  dark,  tower- 
ing mountains,  shading  off  into  verdant  plains,  which  spread  before 
our  eyes  as  we  made  our  way  back  to  the  village  we  had  left  in 
the  morning.  "We  overtook,  as  we  thought,  the  very  clouds  which 
we  had  seen  rolling  through  the  sulphurous  crater,  and,  driving 
through  them,  were  drenched  with  rain.     Then,  again,  when  the 


DUTCH  KULE   IN   JAVA.  309 

sun  shone  out,  we  trod  the  silver  lining  of  other  clouds,  which 
were  pouring  their  floods  upon  illuminated  plains  below. 

A  dinner,  with  good  wine,  and  plenty  of  it,  which  our  young 
chief  had  ordered,  awaited  us  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  and  he 
now  presided  right  royally  over  the  welcome  entertainment.  A 
second  dinner  at  the  palace  closed  the  day. 

We  have  come  to  like  our  host  vastly.  He  is  genial  and  joyous 
in  his  intervals  of  gout,  and,  by  a  certain  sympathy,  has  come  to 
understand  much  of  our  English,  and  to  make  us  comprehend  his 
vernacular.  America  is  a  subject  of  inexhaustible  interest  to  him. 
He  understands  it  so  well,  that  when  Mr.  Seward  asked  him  to 
what  country  he  thought  William  Freeman,  the  colored  servant, 
who  speaks  English,  and  wears  a  European  costume,  belonged,  he 
replied,  "  He  was  born  in  America,  the  son  of  a  slave."  He  was 
entertaining  us  to-day  with  accounts  of  his  great  ancestry,  when 
our  young  Dutch  companion  asked  him  what  evidence  he  had  of 
this  lineage.  lie  answered,  with  spirit,  "What  evidence  have  we 
that  we  all  descended  from  Adam  and  Eve  in  the  garden  of  Eden  ? " 
The  Dutch  seem  constantly  on  the  watch  for  treachery  on  his  part. 
But  suspicion  is  the  punishment  of  usurpation.  It  apprehends  dis- 
loyalty and  treachery  on  every  side.  Would  it  be  treason,  indeed, 
in  this  humiliated  and  pensioned  wearer  of  twelve  diamond-hilted 
ancestral  swords,  to  strike  with  them  a  blow  for  the  lost  sceptre  of 
his  tribe  ? 

For  ourselves,  we  cannot  but  think  that  the  Dutch  rule  in  this 
island,  after  two  hundred  years  of  trial,  with  their  successive  wars, 
is  at  last  safely  established.  It  can  only  be  shaken  now  by  tyranny 
so  extreme  and  violent  as  to  arouse  to  resistance  a  simple  race  who 
as  yet  have  never  acquired  the  first  idea  either  of  personal  freedom 
or  of  national  independence. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

AT  B  ATA  VIA  AGAIN.— THE  MALAYS, 


Farewell  to  Bandong. — A  Tropical  Breakfast. — A  Breakfast  in  the  Botanical  Gardens. — 
A  Princely  Native  Artist. — Dutch  Colonization. — Character  of  the  Malay  Race. — 
Chinese  Immigration. 


Batavia,  January  9ihth. — We  bade  farewell  to  the  magnificent 
chief  of  Bandong,  at  sunrise  yesterday,  and  we  breakfasted  with  him 
at  Sjiandjioer,  enjoying  in  both  cases  the  honors  of  music  and  the 
golden  umbrella.  We  bathed  and  slept  last  night  in  the  rose-gar- 
dens of  Sindanlaya.  At  noon  to-day,  we  reentered  the  palace  of 
Buitenzorg,  w^iich  name,  we  now  learn,  was  borrowed  from  the 
palace  of  Frederick  the  Great  at  Potsdam — Sans-souci. 

A  pretty  illustration  of  tropical  life  greeted  us  here.  The  gov- 
ernor-general was  absent ;  the  ladies  were  just  assembled  at  break- 
fast in  the  coolest  of  marble  halls,  dressed  in  the  degagee  habit 
which  the  Europeans  have  adopted  from  the  natives  here :  hair  fall- 
ing naturally  over  the  shoulders,  the  white  "  short-gown  "  of  our 
grandmothers,  made  fanciful  with  ruffles  and  bright  buttons ;  a  gay- 
colored  muslin  skirt  {sarong)^  not  fastened  by  a  belt,  but  softly  fold- 
ed around  the  figure;  naked  feet  thrust  into  gold-embroidered 
slippers.  After  sharing  their  breakfast  with  us,  they  loaded  our 
carriages  with  roses  and  passion-flowers,  and  lotuses,  each  flower  in 
itself  a  bouquet.  It  was  with  sincere  and  unaffected  regret  that  we 
parted  with  our  newly-made  friends,  and  so  we  are  here  once  more 


A  SOCIAL   BREAKFAST. 


311 


at  our  Batavia  home,  after  a  week  in  the  countrj,  filled  with  the 
kindest  of  hospitalities  and  most  valuable  of  instructions. 


BATH   AT   8INDAULATA. 


January  '^Uh. — The  Eesident  of  the  province  of  Batavia,  with 
the  ladies  of  his  family,  gave  us,  this  morning,  a  social  breakfast  in 
the  Botanical  Gardens,  under  arching  banyan-trees,  in  the  presence 
of  a  larger  and  gayer  assembly  than  ever  before  has  graced  a  feast 
in  our  experience.  These  spectators  were  inquisitive  monkeys, 
graceful  giraffes,  noble  lions,  magnificent  tigers,  loquacious  parrots, 
and  splendid  peacocks,  not  to  speak  of  birds-of-paradise.     In  short, 


312  THE   EASTEEN   ARCniPELAGO,  ETC. 

the  Zoological  Museum  was  tlie  scene  of  our  festivity.  When  the 
repast  was  over,  we  visited  the  museum,  which  is  very  rich  in 
Malay  antiquities  and  curiosities,  chiefly  war  and  ofiiicial  costumes, 
ornaments,  and  weapons,  from  all  parts  of  the  Eastern  Archipelago. 

The  Hall  of  the  Council  of  the  Indies,  in  the  government  pal- 
ace, is  a  spacious  one,  and  adorned  appropriately  with  a  full  collec- 
tion of  life-size  portraits  of  the  successive  governors-general. 

Java  is  proud  of  the  native  prince  Rahden  Saleh,  who  in  Europe 
acquired  great  proficiency  in  the  arts  of  painting  and  architecture. 
His  most  celebrated  artistic  achievements  are,  the  Botanical  Gar- 
dens, in  which  we  breakfasted ;  a  fine  portrait  of  the  governor-gen- 
eral (Myer)  ;  and  his  own  Italian  villa,  in  the  suburbs  of  Batavia. 

Mr.  Pell  gathered  at  his  table,  in  the  evening,  a  pleasant  party 
of  Americans.  This  island  is  visited  more  by  Americans  than  by 
any  other  class  of  travellers. 

Batavia- Roads,  Steamer  Singapore,  Jamiary  '^^th,  Evening. — 
To  avoid  an  early  and  precipitate  embarkation  to-morrow,  we  pro- 
cured a  steam-tender,  and  came  on  board  a  packet  still  smaller  than 
the  Koningin  der  Nederlanden. 

What  we  have  seen  in  Java,  and  learned  there  of  other  islands, 
justifies  us  in  pronouncing  the  Dutch  colonization  in  the  East 
Indies  a  great  and  beneficent  success.  Less  than  twenty  thou- 
sand Dutch  colonists  have  established  over  a  native  population 
of  seventeen  millions  the  sway  of  the  mother-country,  which  num- 
bers only  four  millions.  Notwithstanding  occasional  insurrections, 
that  sway  may  be  regarded  as  firmly  established.  It  ought  to 
enhance  our  admiration  of  the  enterprise,  that,  during  two  hun- 
dred years  of  its  history,  the  Netherlands  had  to  overcome  not 
alone  the  natives  of  the  islands,  but  also  to  maintain  an  almost 
constant  conflict  with  European  competitors  in  these  distant  seas 
— Portugal,  Spain,  France,  and  Great  Britain.  Its  administra- 
tion is  severely  criticised  in  British  circles,  on  the  ground  of  its 
wearing  too  prominently  the  features  of  narrow  mercantile  monop- 
oly. Although  these  features  must  be  admitted  to  be  tyrannical,  it 
cannot  be  denied,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  Dutch  Government 


THE  MALAY  RACE.  313 

has  practised  far  less  severity  and  cruelty  toward  the  natives  of  the 
Archipelago  than  Spain,  and  Great  Britain,  and  their  successors 
the  United  States,  have  practised  in  America.  Holland  has  neither 
exterminated  native  populations  in  the  Archipelago,  nor  imposed 
slavery  on  them,  nor  introduced  African  slavery  among  them. 
The  Dutch  development  of  the  resources  of  Java  has  been  effective. 
The  island  has  an  agriculture  surpassing  that  of  any  other  country, 
and  has  also  a  valuable  and  increasing  foreign  commerce.  So  far 
as  we  can  perceive,  it  is  free  alike  from  political  and  social  dis- 
content, and  certainly  it  is  free  from  pauperism.  Nor  is  it  to  be 
overlooked  that  the  Malays  have  been  raised  to  the  partial  exer- 
cise of  political  functions.  The  government,  while  it  tolerates  all 
religions,  encourages  missionary  instruction,  and  maintains  schools 
so  generally  that  a  Javanese  who  is  unable  to  read  and  write  in 
his  own  language  is  exceptional.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be 
admitted  that  no  such  vivifying  social  sentiments  as  those  of  per- 
sonal liberty  and  national  independence  have  been  conceived  by 
the  Malays ;  and,  while  we  can  no  longer  doubt  that  the  ultimate 
civilization  of  the  whole  human  race  is  within  the  design  of  Provi- 
dence, we  must  reconcile  ourselves  to  laws  which  render  the  prog- 
ress of  civilization  slow,  and  seemingly  uncertain. 

The  Malay  race  is  not  homogeneous ;  it  has  many  distinct 
branches.  The  branches  which  were  found  by  the  European  dis- 
coverers on  the  peninsula,  and  on  the  islands  of  Sumatra  and 
Java,  were  compact  and  organized  states,  which  had  long  before 
emerged  from  the  tribal  condition.  I^^evertheless,  the  Malays  are 
intellectually  as  well  as  physically  feeble.  The  European  discov- 
erers alleged  that  they  could  not  count  ten.  But  in  one  art  they 
excelled  all  mankind — this  was  the  art  of  irrigation.  So  incon- 
gruous does  this  skill  seem  to  be,  that  we  might  almost  deem  it 
an  instinct  rather  than  an  acquirement  of  the  Malays.  Although 
the  same  European  explorers  describe  the  Malays  as  subtle  and 
treacherous,  we  are  obliged  to  conclude  that  they  are  a  docile  and 
tractable  people.  They  received  their  earliest  religion  from  the 
Bramins  of  India,  as  is  proved  by  the  ruins  of  Hindoo  temples  of 
vast  proportions  and  great  magnificence.     They  exchanged  that  re- 


314: 


THE   EASTEKN   ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 


ligion,  witli  entire  docility,  for  the  faith  of  the  crescent,  which  was 
brought  to  them  from  Arabia  by  the  apostles  of  Mohammed.  There 
was  one  occasion,  indeed,  in  their  history  when  they  proved  intrac- 
table and  hostile.  At  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  Europeans,  not 
only  the  Malayan  Peninsula,  but  Sumatra,  Java,  and  Borneo,  were 
found  the  field  of  active  Chinese  colonization.  The  European  his- 
torians represent  that  the  natives  sought  to  exterminate  the  Chinese 
immigrants  here,  on  exactly  the  same  grounds  that  Chinese  immi- 
gration is  opposed  in  the  United  States,  namely,  a  fear  that  it 
would  establish  a  system  of  heathen  barbarism.  In  this  native  re- 
sistance to  Chinese  colonization,  the  European  adventurers  con- 
curred and  cooperated  for  a  long  time.  But  it  has,  at  last,  happily 
ceased.  The  Dutch  East  India  Government,  as  well  as  the  British 
Government  at  Singapore,  are  now  effectively  engaged  in  promot- 
ing that  immigration  in  their  respective  colonies. 


JAVANESE. 


CHAPTER   VI. 


FROM  BAT  AVI  A    TO  MADRAS. 


An  Uncomfortable  Steamer. — An  Accident. — ^At  Singapore. — British  Hospitality. — The 
Port  of  Penang. — A  Loyal  Englishman. — Bay  of  Bengal. — Half-Way  Round  the 
World. — Arrival  at  Ceylon. — Point  de  Galle. — A  Short  Visit  to  the  Shore. — A 
Hindoo  Crew. — Off  Pondicherry. 

Steamer  Singapore,  January  Zlst. — If  one  wishes  to  learn  how 
skilfully  common-earners,  demanding  the  highest  rates  for  freight 
and  passage,  can  inflict  the  greatest  discomfort,  we  recommend  to 
him  a  lesson  on  the  Singapore.  She  was  appointed  to  leave  Batavia 
on  the  25th,  while  the  British  steamer  to  Ceylon  was  to  leave  Sin- 
gapore on  February  1st.  But  the  Singapore,  which  is  the  slowest 
vessel  of  the  line,  did  not  sail  until  the  27th.  Notwithstanding 
this  change  of  time,  we  hoped  for  two  days  of  rest  at  Singapore. 
The  cabin  is  a  dove-cote — the  holes  are  reached  from  the  deck  by  a 
perpendicular  ladder.  We  had  the  whole  dove-cote  to  ourselves 
the  night  we  lay  in  the  roads  at  Batavia.  The  next  night,  and  all 
other  nights,  we  escaped  from  its  stifling  imprisonment  by  having 
our  mattresses  spread  on  the  deck  and  protected  by  awnings.  Our 
new  lodging  was  made  intolerably  noisy  by  the  incessant  tramp  of 
passengers,  ofiicers,  seamen,  and  servants.  A  dozen  milch-cows 
were  hauled  by  their  horns  on  deck,  before  we  left  port.  Fifty 
miles  at  sea,  one  of  them  mutinied,  and  leaped  overboard  ;  the 
ship  gave  her  stern-chase,  bow-chase,  and  cross-chase,  for  five  hours ; 


316  THE  EASTERN  AEOIIIPELAGO,  ETC. 

it  was  an  unequal  chase,  but  steam-power,  baffled  so  long,  prevailed 
at  last. 

During  the  night,  when  we  were  crossing  the  mouth  of  the 
straits  of  Sunda,  a  northwest  monsoon  put  the  steamer  to  another 
trial.  The  condenser  gave  way  at  midnight,  and  the  vessel  be- 
came a  log.  "We,  who  were  wakeful  and  alarmed,  saw  the  officers 
hurrying  backward  and  forward,  whispering  rather  than  proclaim- 
ing their  commands.  We  overheard  them  discoursing  how  to  make 
up  the  ship's  deficiency  in  life-boats  in  case  she  should  be  driven 
on  the  beach.  It  was  a  new  experience  to  go  down,  in  that  tem- 
pestuous night,  into  the  seething  ship's  hold,  and  take  our  money 
from  our  trunks  and  prepare  for  the  apprehended  disaster.  What 
might  not  be  our  fate,  if,  escaping  from  the  perils  of  the  sea,  Ave 
should  reach  the  savage  shore  of  Sumatra  ?  Should  we  encounter 
there  serpents,  wild-beasts,  cannibals?  The  storm,  however,  re- 
lented a  little;  after  working  the  pumps,  and  hammering  on  the 
condenser,  the  engineer  repaired  the  broken  machinery,  and  the 
vessel  resumed  her  course. 

We  were  demoralized  by  travel  in  this  intemperate  climate. 
The  coarse  food  was  not  at  all  to  our  liking ;  we  fell  back  on  the 
fruits.  The  first  day,  lemons,  limes,  even  bottled  lemonade,  were 
exhausted ;  the  next  day,  the  oranges,  bananas,  and  pineapples ; 
the  third  day,  and  afterward,  we  had  stale  bread  and  bad  cofiee. 
Wcf  have  arrived  here  at  midnight,  on  the  fifth  day  of  our  voyage. 
No  signal  has  been  given  of  the  steamer,  and  we  therefore  sleep 
on  board,  although  we  are  to  embark  on  the  Behar  for  Ceylon,  to- 
morrow. 

Steamer  Behar,  Straits  of  Malacca,  February  1st. — The  unin- 
structed  telegraph,  at  dawn,  signalled  the  Singapore  as  a  Dutch 
man-of-war.  Nobody  expected  Mr.  Seward  in  a  belligerent  char- 
acter, especially  under  a  Dutch  flag.  Governor  Ord  and  Consul 
Jewell,  however,  discovered  the  mistake,  and  took  us  ashore  after 
long  delay.  The  true  English  hospitality  of  Sir  George  and  Lady 
Ord,  at  Government  House,  soon  banished  the  remembrance  of  the 
perils  and  privations  of  our  recent  voyage. 


THE  STRAITS  OF  SUNDA.  317 

Strength  commands  respect,  and  success,  at  last,  overpowers 
envy.  The  same  European  populace  of  Shiga  pore,  which,  only 
a  very  few  years  ago,  cheered  the  American  rebel  Semmes,  when 
he  went  out  and  came  in  there  from  his  traitorous  depredations  on 
unprotected  national  commerce,  now  followed  our  little  American 
party  to  the  wharf,  and,  as  the  Behar  cast  off  her  lines  at  four 
o'clock,  they  shouted,  with  evident  good-will :  "  Three  cheers  for 
Governor  Seward,  three  cheers  for  the  ladies !  "  "  Well,"  said  Mr. 
Seward,  "  let  it  be  so  ;  it  is  not  an  unwholesome  instruction  that  the 
nation  which  would  enjoy  the  respect  of  other  nations  must  retain 
its  claim  to  it  by  union  and  courage. 


5J 


Penang,  February  Sd. — As  the  straits  of  Sunda  are  the  cus- 
tomary channel  of  vessels  which  round  Cape  Horn  for  Java,  China, 
and  Japan,  so  the  straits  of  Malacca  are  the  proper  passage  for  ves- 
sels of  like  destination,  which  come  by  the  way  of  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  The  British  Government  has,  with  its  usual  sagacity, 
secured  the  ancient  town  of  Malacca  on  the  Malay  Peninsula.  The 
straits  are  four  hundred  miles  long.  We  have  made  the  passage 
hither  in  forty-two  hours,  seeing  often  the  high  hills  of  Sumatra  on 
our  left,  and  the  flat  Malay  Peninsula  always  in  view  on  our  right. 
The  straits  here  are  seven  miles  wide,  and  deep  enough  for  vessels 
of  the  largest  size.  The  mountainous,  wooded  island  of  Penang 
rises  abruptly  out  of  the  sea,  and  lesser  islands  lend  a  picturesque 
aspect  to  the  harbor. 

The  port  of  Penang,  sometimes  called  Georgetown,  with  a  pop- 
ulation of  four  thousand,  may,  some  time  ago,  have  flourished,  but 
it  is  now  in  a  condition  of  neglect  and  decline.  The  poj)ulation  of 
the  island  of  Penang  is  forty  thousand.  Governor  Ord,  like  every 
one  else  in  this  region,  represents  the  Malays  as  improvident  and 
idle.  He  bases  his  hope  of  the  prosperity  of  the  settlement  upon 
Chinese  immigration.  Among  the  twenty  or  thirty  boats,  which 
came  oflf  here  for  passengers  and  freight,  only  one  was  Malay  ;  all 
the  others  were  Chinese  built,  and  manned  by  Chinese. 

We  have  improved,  as  best  we  could,  the  six  hours'  stay  with 
which  the  Behar  has  indulged  us  here.     In  carriages,  with  Hindoo 


318  THE   EASTERN   ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 

drivers,  we  made  great  speed,  over  a  smooth  road,  to  see  a  cascade 
on  the  West  Moimtain,  two  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  The 
people  whom  we  passed,  on  the  road- side,  were  often  standing  or 
reclining  in  careless  and  picturesque  attitudes,  under  the  cocoa-nut 
and  arika  palms.  They  seem  effeminate  and  languid.  Manifestly, 
however,  they  bestow  careful  attention  on  their  costumes,  grace- 
fully made  up  of  pure  white  or  bright-colored  turbans,  flowing 
sashes,  and  gay  sarongs. 

There  is  an  approximation  to  similarity  in  the  dwellings  of  the 
Malays  and  Chinese  hero,  while  the  foreign  bungalows  exhibit  a 
sad  corruption  of  European  architecture,  without  gain  from  the 
Oriental.  On  all  sides,  and  at  every  turn,  there  are  swinging 
sign-boards,  w^hich  announce  "  Licensed  to  sell  ardent  spirits."  If 
alcohol  is  not  admitted  to  be  a  civilizer,  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
it  is  a  leveller. 

After  making  a  considerable  descent,  we  reached  a  brawling 
torrent.  We  followed  its  bank  under  the  shade  of  native  forests. 
A  small  plain  near  the  foot  of  the  cascade  furnishes  the  site  for  a 
little,  rude,  adobe  Hindoo  temple ;  it  has  a  rustic  veranda,  sup- 
ported by  palm-saplings.  Here  we  were  welcomed  by  Bramins, 
who  were  assiduously  engaged  in  plaiting  bamboo  curtains,  and 
weaving  garlands  of  mountain-flowers,  for  a  festival  to-morrow. 
We  rested  awhile  under  this  simple  but  beautiful  upholstery,  and 
then  foraged  the  adjoining  woods  for  nutmegs  and  cloves.  As- 
cending from  this  plain  two  or  three  hundred  feet,  over  rough 
stone  steps,  we  came  to  the  basin  into  which  the  torrent  plunges 
for  a  hundred  feet  or  more,  breaking  into  sparkling  jets  as  it 
dashes  against  glistening  granite  rocks.  Even  we,  prosaic  as  we 
are,  could  easily  fancy  that  the  caverns  in  these  romantic  rocks  are 
inhabited  by  naiads  and  genii,  such  as  are  supposed  to  hold  com- 
mune with  the  imaginative  disciples  of  the  oldest  and  most  myste- 
rious of  the  religions  of  the  East. 

Sitting  on  benches  hewn  from  the  rock,  and  refreshing  ourselves 
with  cool  water  drawn  from  the  basin,  we  looked  off  upon  the 
ocean,  a  dozen  miles  distant,  calm  and  quiet,  through  a  vista  of  tree- 
ferns,  rooted  high  above  the  tops  of  the  palms  and  spice-trees  which 


HALF-WAY   EOUND   THE   WORLD.  319 

grow  on  the  plain  below.  Descending  to  the  plain  where  we  had 
left  oiu'  carriages,  we  were  served,  at  a  rustic  inn,  with  a  lunch  of 
broiled  chickens  and  salad,  and  with  wine  from  Xeres,  which  need- 
ed no  "  bush,"  The  proprietor,  a  loyal  Englishman,  did  not  think 
it  superfluons  to  tell  us  that  the  fountain  in  which  we  had  bathed, 
the  table  on  which  we  dined,  and  the  cask  from  which  the  wine 
was  drawn,  had  all  been  honored  with  the  patronage  of  his  Royal 
Highness  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh.  How  long  will  "her  Majesty's 
command,"  and  "  his  Royal  Highness's  protection,"  serve  to  adver- 
tise merchandise  and  inns  in  the  East  Indies  ? 

On  coming  on  board,  we  learned  with  regret  that  our  hurried 
shore  ramble  had  deprived  us  of  a  visit  from  the  United  States  con- 
sul. 

Steamer  Behar,  Bay  of  Bengal^  Felruary  Uh. — Penang  city 
and  roadstead  passed  from  our  sight  with  the  setting  sun.  "We 
have  given  the  Southern  Islands  a  wide  berth. 

Now  at  noon,  while  the  captain  is  taking  his  daily  observations, 
Mr.  Seward,  pencil  in  hand,  is  making  up  his  reckoning.  "  Cap- 
tain, I  think  we  must  be  near  the  9Sth  meridian  of  east  longitude, 
which  will  be  half  my  voyage  around  the  world."  The  captain 
answered,  "  That  light-ship,  sir,  which  you  see  on  our  right,  marks 
the  line  you  are  inquiring  for." 

Little  do  our  friends  at  home,  in  their  midnight  slumber,  dream 
that  we  are  sitting,  wide  awake,  directly  over  their  heads.  But  we 
have  a  faint  idea  that  this  reflection  has  been  made  under  similar 
circumstances  before. 

The  calm  sea-surface  is  broken  by  a  vast  shoal  of  fish,  violently 
throwing  themselves  into  the  air.  "  What  has  caused  this  great 
commotion  ? "  It  is  those  two  black-headed  sharks  peering  over 
the  water — vanguard,  doubtless,  of  a  ferocious  army. 

February  Itli. — The  Indian  Ocean  justifies  its  renown.  "We 
have  not  had  a  wave  too  high,  a  cloud  too  dark,  or  a  breeze  too 
strong.  We  are  actually  regretting  that  this  dreamy  voyage  must 
be  broken  at  Ceylon  to-morrow.     A  mattress  on  the  deck  of  a  Pen- 


320  THE  EASTERIT  ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 

insular  and  Oriental  steamer,  on  this  ocean  in  February,  is  a  luxury 
of  rest.  The  glaring,  blazing  sun  has  scarcely  set,  before  the  moon 
and  stars  come  out  in  full  brilliancy.  The  sparkling  Southern 
Cross  traverses  a  short  journey  across  the  southern  horizon,  visibly 
changing  its  position  every  hour,  and  the  tranquil  night,  without 
twilight,  breaks  suddenly  into  another  cloudless  and  joyous  day. 

Off  Point  de  Galle,  February  d>th. — A  letter  from  Lord  Napier 
comes  on  board,  protesting  against  our  lingering  at  Ceylon,  so  as 
to  fall  into  India  in  the  hot  season.  We  are  obliged  to  be  content, 
therefore,  with  an  outside  view  of  that  famous  island.  TVe  have 
been  running  nearly  all  day  along  its  beautiful  coast.  A  yellow 
beach,  with  dazzling  breakers,  fringes  the  forest  verdure  of  the 
island.  That  verdure  extends  to  a  height  of  five  thousand  feet, 
when  it  gives  place  to  a  blue  rocky  ridge,  from  which  rises  Adam's 
Peak,  nine  thousand  feet,  and  Haycock  Hill,  fourteen  thousand. 
The  fishing-craft  here  is  as  ingenious  as  its  construction  is  peculiar. 
Being  a  canoe,  scooped  out  of  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  it  is  too  narrow 
for  safety.  It  is,  therefore,  provided  with  a  float  attached  to  out- 
rio-o-ers  at  the  rii>;ht  side.  Fleets  of  these  boats  are  moving;  around 
us,  but,  whatever  pearls  the  fishermen  may  have  taken  from  these 
rich  waters,  are  too  minute  for  our  vision.  So,  also,  if  elephants 
are  as  numerous  on  the  shores  as  they  are  represented  to  be,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  an  impenetrable  jungle  intervenes  to 
conceal  them  from  our  si^ht. 


o 


Steamshij?  Columhia,  10  p.m.,  February  Sth. — "While  we  were 
writing  our  latest  notes,  a  summons  came  for  our  transshipment 
from  the  Behar  to  this  steamer. 

Point  de  Galle,  or,  as  it  is  otherwise  called,  Galle,  although 
described  in  some  of  the  geographies  as  having  a  good  harbor,  has 
just  no  harbor  at  all.  It  has  neither  bay  nor  roadstead,  but  a  piti- 
ful cove,  into  which  the  sea  forces  its  way  between  two  short  ledges 
of  rock  projecting  from  the  shore.  These  ledges,  which  are  scarcely 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  apart,  seem  to  break  the  surf,  and  thus  in  fair 
weather  afford  something  like  a  tranquil  anchorage.     This  anchor- 


A  FEW   MINUTES   IN   CEYLON.  321 

age,  however,  can  accommodate  only  five  or  six  sea-going  vessels, 
and  every  one  of  this  number  is  exposed  to  great  danger  if  it  loses 
control  of  its  ground-tackle,  from  hidden  coral-rocks.  Our  fellow- 
passenger.  Colonel  Garden,  of  the  British  Army  of  India,  tells  us 
that  one  of  these  rocks  wrecked  and  broke  into  pieces  the  steamer 
in  which  he  was  entering  the  harbor  two  years  ago. 

This  afternoon  three  steamers  met  here — the  Behar  bound  for 
Suez,  the  Columbia  for  Madras,  and  a  third  for  the  Archipelago. 
With  these  came  also  a  Portuguese  man-of-war.  The  Behar,  just 
before  we  left  here,  collided  wdth  a  large  iron  ship,  inflicting  the 
loss  of  a  boom,  and  suffering  the  loss  of  a  life-boat  and  stanchions. 
We  asked  whether  this  is  the  best  of  the  island  ports,  and  were 
answered  that  Columbo,  the  only  one  available  to  the  present  trade, 
is  worse.  Nevertheless,  the  cove  is  beautiful  to  look  upon.  The 
shore  is  ten  or  twelve  feet  above  the  sea,  and  shaded  with  palms. 
Here  and  there  a  fanciful  bungalow  may  be  seen  peeping  from 
behind  the  dense  groves.  On  a  gentle  elevation  is  a  pretty  Chris- 
tian church  and  spire,  confronting  a  mosque  and  minarets  not  less 
conspicuous.  At  the  water's  edge  is  a  line  of  white  fortifications 
and  barracks,  w^itli  a  lofty  gateway  leading  to  the  town,  built  by 
the  Portuguese.  These  buildings,  substantial  and  old,  are  shel- 
tered by  immense  trees,  of  what  sort  we  are  unable  to  learn. 

Ten  o'clock. — Until  the  moment  of  writing  the  last  notes,  we 
had  entertained  no  hope  of  treading  the  soil  of  fragrant  Ceylon. 
The  captain  of  the  Columbia  tendered  us  his  service  to  go  ashore 
in  his  launch.  We  made  our  way,  not  without  great  difficulty, 
through  the  crowded  shipping  to  the  stone  steps  under  the  mediae- 
val gateway.  Ten  minutes  sufficed  us  to  walk  through  the  princi- 
pal street.  We  rested  under  the  veranda  of  a  comfortable,  mod- 
ern hotel,  making  a  hundred  inquiries  concerning  the  island  and 
its  wonders,  continually  interrupted  by  tempting  ofiers  of  carved 
ebony  elephants,  coffee-wood  sticks,  cinnamon  paper-cutters,  Cin- 
galese lace,  not  to  speak  of  diamonds,  pearls,  rubies,  and  sapphires. 
Having  so  soon  "  done  "  the  to-wn  and  island,  we  rowed  among  the 
shipping,  dodging  a  rudder  here,  a  propeller  there,  and  native  raft- 


322  THE  EASTEEN  ARCHIPELAGO,  ETC. 

boats  on  every  side,  until  a  flasli  from  the  ship's  gun  summoned  all 
on  board.  The  most  inspiring  incident  of  this  day's  experience 
was  the  last.  The  moon  had  not  risen,  and  the  night  was  dark 
and  cloudy  when  our  propeller  was  put  in  motion.  A  blue  light 
on  the  Columbia's  bow  signalled  that  her  movement  was  to  begin. 
Instantly  a  brilliant  torch,  fed  by  impish  natives,  blazed  on  each 
one  of  the  hundred  beacons  which  rose  on  the  sharp  ledges  of  the 
channel,  and  soon  we  were  moving  through  a  maze  of  bonfires  to 
the  open  sea.  At  this  moment,  a  full  moon,  breaking  through  the 
clouds,  poured  her  silver  light  over  land  and  sea,  adding  a  new 
and  inconceivable  brilliancy  to  the  scene. 

Bay  of  Bengal^  February  ^th. — The  route  to  Madras  requires 
that  we  retrace  to  the  end  of  the  island  the  course  by  which  we 
reached  Point  de  Galle.  We  are  now  steering  northward,  along 
the  eastern  coast  of  Ceylon. 

The  island  constitutes  a  distinct  British  province,  and  its  gov- 
ernment is  under  the  direct  supervision  of  the  Secretary  of  State 
for  India.  Its  people,  all  Cingalese,  are  doubtless  of  Hindoo 
extraction.  The  prevailing  religion,  that  of  Buddha,  we  are  in- 
clined to  think,  flourishes  more  vigorously  there  than  on  the  con- 
tinent. British  and  American  missionaries  labor  harmoniously 
together,  and  report  that  they  have  one  pupil  in  their  schools,  for 
every  ninety  of  the  native  population. 

TVe  have  at  last  left  the  Chinese,  as  well  as  the  American  and 
European  seamen,  behind  us.  All  our  crew  are  Hindoos.  Except 
ourselves,  all  the  passengers  are  British.  They  are  all  civil  or  mili- 
tary officers  of  the  Government.  "Within  the  memories  of  many  of 
them,  journeys  in  India  were  made  with  elephant-trains.  After 
this,  came  the  Peninsular  and  Oriental  steamers,  and  now  railways. 
Business-men  go  directly  by  rail  from  Bombay  to  Calcutta,  while 
families  prefer  the  slower  and  easier  journey  by  sea  around  the 
peninsula,  touching  at  Ceylon.  The  steamers  also  transport  the 
troops  and  stores  for  the  Indian  army. 

"We  already  feel  that  the  continental  empire  is  the  one  absorb- 
ing British  interest,  to  which  Ceylon  and  the  Straits  Settlement  are 


PONDICHEERY.  323 

subordinate.  Wliat  we  hear  discussed  are  the  political  and  social 
questions  of  the  capital,  Calcutta.  Our  fellow-passengers  condole 
with  us  that  our  arrival  will  be  too  late  for  the  court  season. 

Off  Pondicherry. — It  will  be  remembered  that  we  found  the 
French  in  Cochin  China  fortifying  Saigon  against  German  invasion. 
We  heard  yesterday  at  Point  de  Galle  that  one  of  the  conditions  of 
peace  made  by  King  William  is  the  surrender  of  Pondicherry,  the 
only  other  remaining  relic  of  French  conquest  in  the  East.  Mr. 
Seward  does  not  believe  the  report.  While  he  thinks  that  France 
may  withdraw  before  long  from  the  East,  he  thinks  it  quite  too  late 
for  even  united  Germany  to  come  here  as  a  civilizer.  It  would 
involve  nothing  else  than  an  attempt  at  universal  empire,  that 
dream  which  began  with  Alexander,  and  which  lies  buried  in  the 
tomb  at  the  Hotel  des  Invalides. 

Pondicherry,  without  a  harbor,  is  a  dismantled  city  of  forty 
thousand  people,  lying  within  the  limits  of  the  province  of  South 
Arcot,  and  is  distant  only  eighty-seven  miles  from  Madras.  The 
British  have  heretofore  seized  it  four  times,  in  as  many  successive 
wars  with  France,  and,  although  they  have  as  often  restored  it,  it 
lies  nevertheless  completely  at  their  mercy. 


25 


PART  lY. 

BRITISH    INDIA 


CHAPTER  I. 

MADRAS. 

Madras  from  the  Sea. — Governor  Napier. — The  Government  House. — A  Hindoo  Girls' 
School. — Bishop  Heber. — British  Dominion  in  India. — Rear-Admiral  Coekburn. — 
Machinery  of  Government. — A  Meeting  of  the  Executive  Council. — Lord  Comwalhs. 
— The  Legislative  Council. — Hindoo  Music. 

Madras,  February  11th.  —  This  voyage  of  ours,  -westward 
around  tlie  world,  subjects  us  to  singular  impressions.  Since  we 
left  San  Francisco,  we  have  seen  at  every  stage  a  more  imposing 
demonstration  of  European  power.  Thus,  we  are  reaching  Europe 
by  a  flank  movement. 

We  first  saw  Madi*as  from  the  sea,  at  a  long  distance,  through  a 
blue  haze.  It  seemed  commanding  and  beautiful,  a  city  of  Euro- 
pean aspect,  stretching  eight  or  ten  miles  along  the  Coromandel 
coast.  It  contains  five  hundred  thousand  people.  Here,  as  at 
Yeddo,  large  g^ardens  intervene  between  the  different  districts  of 
the  city.  On  coming  near,  its  lofty  buildings  present  a  dingy 
appearance,  an  indication,  we  think,  of  commercial  decline,  result- 
ing from  the  opening  of  the  railway  from  Bombay  to  Calcutta. 

Captain  Xapier  took  us  off'  the  steamer,  and  brought  us  directly 
to  the  Government  House,  the  official  residence  of  Francis,  Lord 
Kapier,  Governor  of  the  Presidency  of  Madras.  It  is  a  palace  half 
European,  half  Oriental,  with  its  proportions  and  appointments  not 
im worthy  of  a  magistrate  who  presides  over  a  country  which  is  as 
large  as  France,  and  contains  almost  as  many  million  inhabitants. 


328  BRITISH  INDIA. 

During  Lord  Ncapier's  residence,  as  minister  of  Great  Britain  in 
the  United  States,  a  close  friendship  grew  up  between  him  and  Mr. 
Seward,  and  between  their  families.  That  friendship  has  continued, 
through  political  and  domestic  vicissitudes.  AYe  therefore  expected 
here,  as  we  desired,  not  so  much  a  distinguished  reception,  as  a  sin- 
cere welcome,  with  much-needed  rest.  These  we  are  having,  but 
not  without  such  official  demonstrations  as  we  have  met  elsewhere. 
The  appointments  of  Government  House  are  magnificent.  .We 
notice  a  major-general's  staff,  with  a  guard  of  horse  and  foot, 
blazing  in  scarlet  and  gold ;  civil  secretaries,  we  know  not  how 
many  ;  servants  counted  by  the  score,  at  the  head  of  whom  aro 
seven  native  butlers,  and  at  the  foot  a  hundred  wallahs  (coolies), 
who  do  nothing  but  keep  the  jyunJcahs  (sv\^inging  fans)  in  motion, 
in  every  part  of  the  house,  by  day  and  by  night.  In  the  stables, 
two  hundred  horses;  and  here  we  may  say,  that  they  have  six  races 
of  the  animal  in  India:  the  "Waler"  from  Australia,  the  "Cape" 
from  Good  Hope,  the  "  Arabian,"  the  "  Persian,"  and  the  country- 
bred  horse,  a  cross  between  the  "Arabian"  and  "Waler,"  and  a 
small  horse  from  Burmah,  which  we  like  better  than  any  pony  we 
have  seen  in  Asia. 

Madras,  February  11th. — AYe  accompanied  Lady  ]^[apier  to- 
day, at  three  o'clock,  to  an  examination  of  a  Hindoo  girls'-school. 
Prizes  were  distributed  to  one  hundred  pupils,  all  under  twelve 
years.  This  is  the  age  of  marriage  in  India.  Jealous  and  ambi- 
tious parents  anticipate  it,  by  marrying  their  daughters  to  their 
appointed  husbands  at  every  stage  of  infancy  and  childhood.  We 
were  surprised,  although  we  ought  not  to  have  been  so,  in  seeing 
the  children  in  this  school  quite  black.  They  have,  however, 
straight  hair  and  regular  features.  They  are  slender  in  form  and 
diminutive  in  stature,  with  extremely  delicate  hands  and  feet. 
They  have  a  sad,  pensive  manner,  entirely  free  from  the  content- 
ment and  abandon  which  are  noticeable  among  the  colored  children 
of  the  United  States.  Though  of  many  different  castes,  all  were 
dressed  in  either  bright-colored  muslins  or  gauzes  interwoven  v/ith 
gold.      Their  fine  black  hair,  their  ears,  their  noses,  their  necks, 


<; 

Q 

< 
w 

0 

DC 

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> 

0 
0 


A  HINDOO  GIELS'-SCHOOL.  329 

their  arms,  their  wrists,  their  ankles,  and  their  toes,  were  loaded 
with  ornaments  of  silver,  gold,  pearls,  and  precious  stones.  A  val- 
uation made  at  our  request,  of  a  set  of  ornaments  worn  by  a  child 
of  six  years,  gave  the  figure  of  three  hundred  pounds  sterling ! 
The  prettiest  costume  of  all  was  worn  by  a  daughter  of  the  con- 
verted Hindoo  matron  of  the  institution — a  green  satin  vest,  low 
at  the  neck,  small  short  sleeves  trimmed  with  gold  lace ;  white 
skirt  over  which  was  wound  a  long,  full,  rose-colored  scarf;  the 
necklace,  ear-rings,  and  nose-rings,  of  gold  coins.  From  the  osten- 
tatious display  of  jewels,  we  inferred  that  the  children  had  rich 
parents.  But  we  soon  learned  that  these  ornaments  constitute  the 
entire  fortune  and  estate  of  the  wearer.  Banks,  stocks,  and  other 
institutions  for  the  investment  of  capital,  are  little  known  or  under- 
stood by  the  Hindoos, 

The  children  answered,  some  in  the  Tamil  dialect,  others  in 
the  Telugu,  others  in  the,  Hindostanee,  Bible  questions  of  history 
and  geography  about  as  well  as  our  own  Sunday-school  children  of 
the  same  age.  They  were  also  examined  in  the  most  simple  pro- 
cesses of  arithmetic.  A  Tamil  lyric  was  prettily  sung  by  one  class. 
Its  plaintive  strain  recalled  our  negro  melodies.  The  native  air, 
to  which  Tamil  verses  in  honor  of  Lady  Napier  were  sung  by  the 
whole  school,  unmistakably  breathed  the  refrain  of  "  Dearest  Mae." 
A  Telugu  lyric  was  less  musical.  Five  thousand  children  are  edu- 
cated in  schools  of  this  sort  in  Madras.  Yery  few,  however,  be- 
come Christians. 

Hindoo  names  always  are  significant.  "We  record  the  names 
of  three  pupils  who  received  the  first  prizes :  Ammaui,  Matron ; 
Amurdum,  ITectar;  Sivaratura,  Gem  of  Life.  The  best  prizes 
were  French  dolls,  and  were  received  with  subdued  but  immense 
delight, 

A  drive  on  the  surf-beaten  shore,  where  foreigners  "most  do 
congregate,"  closed  our  first  day  at  Madras. 

Madras^  February  VUh. — We  attended  morning  service  at  the 
cathedral,  a  spacious  though  unostentatious  edifice.  It  was  difficult 
at  first  to  compose  ourselv^es  under  the  constant  vibration  of  the 


330  ^.  BRITISH  INDIA. 

punkaLs,  wliicli  swing  without  ceasing  over  the  heads  of  the  large 
congregation.  The  beautiful  hymn  which  was  sung  recalled  the 
memory  of  Heber,  and  a  fine  marble  statue  in  the  chancel  gave  us 
the  classic  lineaments  of  the  great  Bishop  of  Calcutta.  He  it  was 
who  was  "  zealous  for  his  Church,  and  not  forgetful  of  his  station, 
but  remembering  it  more  for  the  duties  than  for  the  honors  that 
were  attached  to  it,  and  infinitelv  more  zealous  for  the  religious  im- 
provement,  and  for  the  happiness  and  spiritual  and  worldly  good 
of  his  fellow-creatures  of  every  tongue,  faith,  and  complexion." 

I 

February  \^th. — How  strange  it  seems  that  this  dominion  of 
India,  with  its  two  hundred  millions  of  people,  should  be  a  de- 
pendency on  the  two  small  islands  of  distant  Great  Britain,  which 
contain  only  thirty  millions !  And  yet  there  is  a  reason  for  it. 
Weak  and  ignorant  tribes  and  nations  are  generally  found  depend- 
ent on  stronger  and  more  enlightened  ones,  if  not  absorbed  by 
them.  The  dominions  of  Portugal,  which  never  numbered  more 
than  four  millions,  were  once  nearly  as  extensive  as  those  of  Eng- 
land. We  have  already  seen  the  rich  Eastern  dominion  of  the 
little  kingdom  of  the  Netherlands,  whose  area  is  about  that  of 
Vermont  or  Maryland.  Indeed,  it  seems  as  if  dependence  is,  at 
some  time,  the  normal  condition  of  every  nation.  All  prosperous 
nations  must  expand.  That  expansion  will  be  made  on  adjacent 
regions  if  practicable  ;  if  not  practicable,  it  will  then  be  made  in 
those  regions,  however  distant,  which  offer  the  least  resistance. 
There  is,  however,  a  thought,  connected  with  this  subject,  which 
is  worth  dwelling  upon.  Why  have  Portugal,  Spain,  and  France, 
failed  to  retain  the  foreign  dominions  they  founded,  while  the 
United  States,  Great  Britain,  and  the  E^etherlands,  continually 
acquire  new  territories,  instead  of  losing  those  already  secured? 
The  reasons  must  be  found  in  a  difference  in  the  characters  and 
genius  of  the  nations.  Portugal  colonized  only  with  merchants 
and  priests,  and  sought  to  monopolize  the  products  of  her  colo- 
nies. Spain  colonized  only  with  soldiers  and  priests,  and  prac- 
tised restriction,  monopoly,  and  extortion ;  while  Great  Britain, 
Holland,  and  the  United  States,  send  out,  for  colonists,  agricul- 


ADMIRAL   COOKBUEN.  331 

turists,  mechanics,  miners,  and  laborers ;  and,  when  they  cannot 
do  this,  they  inti'oduce  cultivation,  mining,  and  the  mechanical 
arts,  among  the  conquered  people.  France  conquers,  not  for  the 
development  and  improvement  of  the  country  subdued,  or  to 
increase  her  own  wealth  and  power,  but  chiefly  for  the  glory  of 
the  conquest.  To  compare  great  things  with  small,  France  con- 
quers, as  the  sportsman  kills,  only  to  show  his  skill  as  a  marks- 
man. 

February  15tk. — ^Rear- Admiral  Cockburn,  her  Britannic  Majes- 
ty's naval  commander  on  the  East  India  station,  arrived  here  in 
his  flag-ship,  the  Forte,  on  the  14th  instant.  The  ofiiciah  and 
fashionable  circles  (by-the-way,  both  are  very  much  one)  all  shower 
hospitalities  upon  him  and  his  officers.  They  were  entertained 
yesterday  at  dinner  at  Government  Elouse,  and  participated  in  the 
ball  which  was  given  to  our  party.  The  ball  was  in  the  great 
banqueting-hall,  -which  is  over  the  jyorte-cochere  of  the  palace.  Its 
roof  is  supported  by  a  double  roAv  of  lofty  Corinthian  columns. 
Instead  of  walls,  the  sides  of  this  tropical  ballroom  are  of  movable 
lattice-work,  admitting  the  sea-breeze  on 'either  side.  Though  we 
have  chronicled  many  balls,  this  one  w^as  too  splendid  to  be  omit- 
ted. Like  Mr.  Seward's,  however,  the  admiral's  thoughts  are  not 
much  diverted  by  the  amusements  of  society.  He  is  sixty  years  of 
age,  a  loyal  and  veteran  British  sailor,  a  good  observer,  and  a  zeal- 
ous philanthropist.  The  chief  object,  at  present,  of  the  naval  police 
which  he  maintains  over  these  waters,  is  to  suppress  the  petty  trade 
in  slaves  which  is  still  carried  on  between  the  eastern  coast  of 
Africa  and  the  shores  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  the  Arabian  Sea,  and 
the  Persian  Gulf.  Although  the  two  gentlemen  were  entirely  un- 
known to  each  other,  Mr.  Seward  had  the  pleasant  experience  of 
finding  the  admiral  an  intelligent  admirer  of  our  country,  and  a 
sympathizer  in  Mr,  Seward's  political  principles  and  sentiments. 

The  admiral  has  tendered  us  a  cruise  in  the  Forte  from  Bombay 
to  Muscat,  with  an  excursion  thence  to  the  sites  of  Ninsveh  and 
Babylon.  This  voyage,  if  it  be  practicable,  will  be  the  complement 
of  our  Eastern  travels.      But  it  will  require  an  early  departure 


332  BRITISH  INDIA. 

from  Bombay,  to  avoid  intolerable  beat  on  tbe  Euphrates  as  well  as 
dangerous  monsoons  in  tbe  Persian  Gulf. 

February  \^th. — Tbe  Britisb  conquests  in  India  are  so  recent, 
that  tbe  civil  government  can  hardly  yet  be  said  to  be  consolidated. 
AVitbin  the  vast  territories  there  are  three  great  presidencies — Ben- 
gal, with  Calcutta  its  capital ;  Madras,  its  capital  the  city  of  Ma- 
dras ;  and  Bombay,  its  capital  Bombay.  The  northern  and  eastern 
portions  of  the  territory  are  divided  into  other  provinces — the 
Northwest,  the  Central,  and  the  Punjaub,  A  viceroy,  appointed 
by  the  crown  for  four  years,  resides  at  Calcutta,  and  administers  a 
form  of  federal  government,  while  each  presidency  and  province 
has  its  own  local  administration.  There  is  associated  with  the  vice- 
roy an  Executive  Council,  whose  members  may  be  regarded  as  sec- 
retaries or  ministers  charged  with  portfolios  of  foreign  affairs, 
finance,  war,  judiciary,  post-office,  improvements,  and  education. 
This  Executive  Council,  like  a  cabinet  council  elsewhere,  attends 
the  viceroy  semi-weekly  or  daily,  as  he  requires.  Its  members  are 
residents  in  India,  and  they  are  appointed  by  the  viceroy,  with  the 
consent  of  the  crown.  AVith  the  consent  of  this  Executive  Council, 
the  viceroy  appoints  all  magisterial  and  ministerial  officers.  There 
is  also  a  Legislative  Council,  which  consists  of  the  same  executive 
councillors,  with  the  addition  of  a  few  residents  of  India,  selected 
by  the  viceroy  with  the  approval  of  the  crown,  to  represent  com- 
mercial and  popular  interests.  This  Legislative  Council  has  also  a 
member  of  the  British  bar,  appointed  by  the  Home  Government,  to 
be  a  legal  adviser.  In  each  of  the  councils  the  viceroy  presides. 
He  can  veto,  but  not  without  rendering  his  reasons  immediately  to 
the  crown.  This  Legislative  Council,  subject  to  approval  from  the 
Home  Government,  makes  general  laws  and  levies  taxes.  A  major- 
ity in  each  council  are  British,  but  four,  five,  or  six  prominent  na- 
tives of  India,  distinguished  for  rank,  property,  or  merit,  are  added 
to  each.  The  Executive  Council  sits  with  closed  doors  ;  the  Legis- 
lative Council  debates  in  public.  Its  proceedings  are  reported  as 
fully  as  those  of  the  British  Parliament,  or  of  our  own  Congress. 
Tbe  governments  of  the  several  presidencies  and  provinces  are  con- 


INDIAN"  GOVERNMENT.  333 

structed  entirely  on  tlie  same  model  with,  that  of  the  federal  or  im- 
perial government  just  described.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
government  of  British  India  differs  from  that  of  the  United  States 
chiefly  in  its  denial  of  the  elective  principle.  All  its  appointments 
are  derived  directly  or  indirectly  from  the  crown. 

The  greatest  social  difficulty  of  the  Government  consists  in  con- 
tending against  the  ancient  laws  and  customs  of  caste.  A  touching 
incident,  which  may  be  regarded  as  showing  the  protest  of  human 
nature  against  the  laws  of  caste^  has  just  occurred  :  A  young  native 
woman  was  indicted  for  the  murder  of  her  child,  whose  father  was 
of  a  lower  caste  than  her  own,  and  with  which  intermarriage  was 
forbidden.  She  confessed  that  she  strangled  the  infant  rather  than 
lose  her  casU.  The  jury,  half  native,  half  foreign,  pronounced  her 
not  guilty,  notwithstanding  her  confession. 

But  the  government  of  India,  as  we  have  described  it,  is  not 
established  in  all  parts  of  the  conquered  territory.  There  are 
many  districts,  some  very  large  ones,  which  still  remain  under  the 
government,  more  or  less  absolute  and  exclusive,  of  native  heredi- 
tary princes, not  unlike  the  Indian  "  nations"  in  the  United  States. 
All  these  provinces  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment, and  admit  of  its  intervention  in  the  local  administration 
by  way  of  advice  or  protest.  Some  of  them,  more  independent 
than  others,  retain  the  simple  relation  of  allies.,  offensive  and  de- 
fensive, with  the  Government  at  Calcutta.  Other  native  princes 
submit  to  have  their  revenues  collected  by  the  Calcutta  Govern- 
ment, and  even  applied  by  it  for  the  welfare  and  improvement  of 
the  districts.  Some  admit  judicial  interference,  others  exclude  it. 
Some  maintain  armies,  others  have  surrendered  that  power.  All 
India,  doubtless,  is  in  a  transition  state.  Of  such  native  districts  or 
provinces,  there  are  encircled  within  the  limits  of  the  Pi'esidency 
of  Madi'as,  Travancore  at  the  north  end  of  the  peninsula.  Cape 
Comorin,  Mysore  in  the  centre  of  the  peninsula,  and  Hyderabad 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  peninsula.  The  Prince  of  Mysore  is 
divested  of  all  authority,  and,  while  allowed  his  titular  rank,  is  a 
pensioned  vassal,  living  under  surveillance.  The  other  two  princes 
are  allies  offensive  and  defensive  of  the  British  crown,  and  are 


334  BRITISH  INDIA. 

practically  independent.  Mr.  Seward  is  attentivelj  studying  the 
working  of  this  complex  governmental  machinery.  He  confesses 
that  he  thinks  it  would  hardly  go  on  smoothly  in  the  United 
States. 

If  a  person,  native  or  foreign,  desires  an  audience  of  the  gov- 
ernor, whether  on  business  or  not,  he  registers  his  name  in  the 
visitors'  book  in  the  adjutant's  office.  After  two  weeks,  more  or 
less,  the  governor  gives  notice  that  he  will  hold  a  public  breakfast 
at  the  palace,  at  which  those  who  have  registered  their  names  will 
be  received.  At  this  entertainment  each  person  submits  his  aj)pli- 
cation  in  turn. 

Mr.  Lincoln  used  to  receive  promptly  all  who  came  to  the 
White  House  before  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Mr.  Seward 
has  known  many  people  sleep  in  the  hall  of  the  White  House  all 
night  to  receive  an  early  audience  in  the  morning. 

On  the  14th,  Mr.  Seward  drove  with  the  governor  to 
Fort  St.  George,  where  his  lordship  was  to  hold  an  Executive 
Council.  Even  this  simple  affair  was  made  the  occasion  of  a 
pageant  greater  than  is  ever  seen  at  AYashington  except  at  inau- 
guration. The  governor  was  escorted  by  fifty  sepoys,  huge  white 
umbrellas  were  held  over  him  and  over  the  heads  of  the  ministers 
as  they  respectively  arrived  at  the  gate  of  the  fortress.  A  corps  of 
retainers  attended  each  up  the  staircase  and  to  the  door  of  the 
council-chamber.  The  opening  of  the  session  was  announced  by 
the  firing  of  a  gun.  Mr.  Seward  was  received  by  the  members,  and, 
after  a  pleasant  interview,  withdrew  to  amuse  himself  with  a  sur- 
vey of  this  celebrated  fortification.  With  its  foundation,  in  1639, 
the  story  of  British  conquest  in  India  began.  It  is  identified  with 
the  memorable  wars,  particularly  those  of  Lord  Clive,  by  which 
that  conquest  has  been  perfected.  Besides  an  arsenal,  it  contains  a 
double  line  of  bomb-proofs  to  accommodate  one  thousand  men. 
The  esplanade  in  front  of  the  fort  is  protected  against  the  sea  by  a 
massive  stone-wall. 

A  statue  of  Lord  Cornwallis  is  a  principal  embellishment.  It 
was  a  surprise  to  us  Americans  to  see  so  honorable  a  monument 
raised  in  these  colonies  to  the  general  who  surrendered  the  last  of 


A  REVOLUTIONAEY  ANECDOTE.  335 

the  British  armies  at  Yorktown,  and  so  yielded  the  last  resistance 
to  the  independence  of  the  American  colonies.  The  British  gen- 
eral, however,  retrieved  that  misfortune  by  a  successful  and  brill- 
iant career  as  Governor-General  of  India.  Happily  for  his  fame, 
his  American  disaster  is  as  little  remembered  by  the  British  nation, 
as  his  successes  in  India  are  remembered  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Seward  recalls  a  curious  anecdote  connected  with  the  Corn- 
wallis  surrender  at  Yorktown.  Henry  Laurens,  of  South  Carolina, 
had  been  president  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  had  been 
appointed  minister  to  the  Netherlands.  He  was  captured  on  his 
passage  and  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  of  London,  and  held  for  trial 
as  a  traitor  to  the  crown.  General  Washington  showed  his  con- 
sideration for  the  father  by  delegating  Captain  Laurens,  the  son  of 
the  imprisoned  minister,  to  receive  the  sword  of  Cornwallis  at  York- 
town.  When  news  of  the  surrender  reached  London,  Henry  Lau- 
rens was  brought  before  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  and  discharged 
from  imprisonment  on  his  own  recognizance.  They  say  that  he 
persisted  in  amending  the  recognizance  by  interpolating  the  word 
not.  "  I,  Henry  Laurens,  acknowledge  myself  to  be  held  and  firmly 
bound  unto  "  not "  my  sovereign  lord.  King  George  the  Third," 
and  that  Lord  Mansfield,  finding  him  obstinate,  said,  "  Let  him 
take  the  recognizance  in  his  own  way." 

February  ISth. — Mr.  Seward  attended  to-day  a  session  of  the 
Legislative  Council.  The  morning  papers  describe  the  council  and 
audience  as  follows :  "  At  the  meeting  of  the  Legislative  Council 
held  at  the  council-chambers  of  Fort  St.  George  to-day,  there  were 
present  the  Eight  Honorable  Lord  Napier,  President,  the  Honora- 
ble A.  J.  Arbuthnot,  J.  B.  Norton,  J.  D.  Surin,  P.  Macfadyen,  A. 
F.  Brown,  Mir  Ilumayoon,  Jah  Bahadur,  Gu  Gujapatti  Pow,  and 
Y.  Panueugae. 

"  The  Honorable  William  H.  Seward,  Mr.  J.  Sutherland,  and  a 
European  pensioner  were  present." 

We  learn  that  the  Mr.  Sutherland  mentioned  is  himself  the 
reporter,  but  all  inquiries  have  failed  to  ascertain  why  the  third 
auditor  was  described  by  the  vague  term  of  "European  pensioner." 


336  BRITISH  IXDIA. 

As  the  names  of  the  councillors  would  imply,  five  are  British, 
and  four  are  natives.  The  subject  was  a  project  of  a  law  to  raise 
revenue  for  education,  police,  and  irrigation,  within  the  presidency. 
The  debates  disclosed  the  fact  that  there  is  no  recognized  line  of 
separation  between  the  powers  of  the  "  Imperial "  Government,  at 
Calcutta,  and  those  of  the  provinces,  in  regard  to  the  rights  of  taxar 
tion  and  the  sources  of  revenue.  The  debates  on  this  occasion 
revealed  what  in  the  United  States  would  be  distinguished  as  a 
strong  jealousy  of  State  rights — a  jealousy,  indeed,  so  great  as  to 
endanger  the  entire  fabric  of  government  if  appeal  could  be  allowed 
to  popular  suffrage.  Practically,  however,  these  demonstrations 
are  of  little  value.  The  "  ImjDerial "  Government  may  do  what  it 
lists ;  provincial  authority  is  rather  ornamental  than  effective.  All 
the  members  spoke,  or,  rather,  read  wi'itten  speeches.  Those  of  the 
natives  were  not  less  able  and  instructive  than  those  of  the  British. 
It  is  a  curious  illustration  of  the  inevitable  presence  of  faction  in 
every  form  of  government,  that,  although  this  Legislative  Council 
consists  of  only  eleven  members,  all  of  whom  derive  their  appoint- 
ments from  the  crown  and  are  responsible  to  it  alone,  it  is  never- 
theless divided  into  two  parties,  and  we  strangers,  who  have  been 
less  than  a  week  here,  already  understand  them. 

Yirgil  sang  "  arms  and  the  man,"  who,  driven  to  exile,  left  his 
native  land  to  build  a  state  on  a  foreign  shore.  Our  theme  seems 
to  be,  arts  and  the  men  who  voluntarily  go  into  exile  to  build  a 
state  in  distant  lands. 

Three  bands  were  summoned  this  morning,  to  give  us  an  idea 
of  native  music.  All  their  instruments,  with  the  exception  of  two 
violins,  were  Indian  reeds,  lutes,  and  drums.  The  performances 
were  elaborate,  but  unmusical  and  unintelligible.  We  asked  their 
meaning.  The  performers  explained  with  manifest  alacrity.  "We 
regret  to  say  that  even  after  this  explanation  we  were  unable  to  dis- 
tinguish the  dirge  for  a  lost  soul  from  the  epithalamium.  When 
the  first  had  been  performed.  Lord  Xapier  asked  the  leader,  a  slen- 
der Hindoo  with  large,  fiashing  eyes  and  graceful  bearing,  to  recite 
and  interpret  the  words  of  the  melody.  He  rose,  made  profound 
ealams,  and  then,  standing  erect,  in  solemn  and  measured  manner 


THE    "LANCERS"   QUADRILLE. 


337 


chanted  liis  answer :  "  The  words,  my  lord,  are  an  appeal  to  the 
gods,  to  allow  the  poor  soul  to  be  consumed  immediately  with  fire, 
that  it  may  no  lono;er  be  tormented  with  remorse."  We  had 
already  become  weary  of  the  performance,  when  the  third  band 
broke  into  a  discordant  imitation  of  the  old  "Lancers"  quadrille. 
The  musicians  were  dismissed  forthwith,  not  much  to  their  satisfac- 
tion, although  largely  rewarded,  for  they  had  reckoned  on  a  full 
day's  performance.  Hindoo  music  must  have  declined  here,  or  it 
must  have  been  very  much  improved  in  Java  since  its  introduction 
there. 


26 


CHAPTER    II. 

MADRAS  (Continued). 

An  Excursion  to  Arcot. — Railroads  in  Hindostan. — Appearance  of  the  Country. — The 
Homage  of  Flowers. — Cauverypak. — The  Native  System  of  Cultivation. — Visit  to 
a  Bramin. — Schools. — A  Car  of  Juggernaut. — The  Dutch  Reformed  Mission. — Back 
to  Madras. — The  Portuguese  Settlement. — Gindy  Park. — A  Diamond  Merchant. — 
Lord  and  Lady  Napier. — The  Normal  School. 

Fehruary  '^Oth. — We  left  Madras  on  the  ISth,  with  Lord  Na- 
pier, in  a  special  train.  Arcot,  the  capital  of  the  famous  province 
of  that  name,  is  seventy  miles  distant  from  Madras.  A  renewal  of 
raih'oad  travel,  after  an-  interval  of  six  months,  in  which  we  had 
come  half-way  around  the  globe,  was  exhilarating.  The  road,  the 
engine,  and  the  cars,  are  of  European  construction,  and  even  the 
coal  is  imported  from  AVales.  The  gauge,  five  feet  eight,  is  uniform 
in  India ;  but  the  Government,  on  considerations  of  economy,  has 
concluded  to  contract  it  to  the  very  narrow  one  recently  proposed  in 
Europe.  There  are  three  classes  of  passengers,  the  third  the  cheap- 
est and  most  numerous.  The  soil  of  the  res^ion  throuo-h  which  we 
passed  is  light ;  the  rocks,  granite.  The  landscape  wears  a  dull, 
yellowish  color,  although  there  is  no  want  of  palm  and  cactus.  We 
seemed  to  be  travelling  alternately  through  sandy  fields  or  meadows 
covered  with  stagnant  water.  We  soon  learned,  however,  that 
these  pools  are  artificial  reservoirs  for  irrigation.  In  some  places, 
the  prevailing  sterile  aspect  is  relieved  by  fields  of  growing  rice. 
The  peasantry  dress  chiefly  in  white.  The  herds  of  very  small  cat- 
tle are  more  numerous  than  we  expected  to  find  in  a  country  where 


THE  CITY  OF  RANEPET.  339 

the  people  abstain  from  animal  food.  The  country  seemed  entirely 
level,  but  we  gained  in  the  journey  an  ascent  of  one  thousand  feet 
on  the  base  of  the  Neilgherry  Mountains,  one  of  the  three  great 
ranges  which  traverse  the  Indian  peninsula.  At  this  point,  we 
might  have  supposed  that  we  were  entering  the  Rocky  Mountains 
at  Cheyenne. 

As  we  rolled  over  the  plain  into  the  shaded  streets  of  the  an- 
cient city  of  Eanepet,  Mr.  Seward  said  to  Lord  Napier,  "  Now  I 
know,  for  the  first  time,  that  British  authority  is  firmly  established 
in  India." 

We  seem,  on  this  excursion,  to  be  reviewing  the  history  of  the 
conquest.  The  mountain-passes,  the  plains,  and  the  monuments, 
continually  recall  to  our  thoughts  the  first  seizure  of  Madras ;  the 
subsequent  contentions,  conflicts,  surprises,  stratagems,  fears,  con- 
spiracies, extortions,  rapacities,  and  massacres,  which,  continuing 
through  a  period  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  have  ended  at 
last  with  the  suppression  of  the  mutiny  of  1857. 

In  1745,  there  was  a  native  war  for  the  succession  of  the  king- 
dom of  the  Carnatic,  which  included  the  province  of  Arcot.  The 
French,  at  Pondicherry,  maintained  the  cause  of  one  claimant ;  the 
British,  at  Trinchinopoly  and  Madras,  maintained  the  other.  Ma- 
dras was  closely  besieged  by  the  French  and  allies.  Clive,  then 
merely  a  clerk  in  the  British  East  India  Company's  office  at  Ma- 
dras, proposed  to  force  a  raising  of  the. siege  by  making  a  move 
on  Arcot.  His  brilliant  success  in  surprising  and  capturing  and 
holding  it  four  months,  with  less  than  four  hundred  men,  against 
ten  thousand  French  and  native  troops,  was  the  beginning  of  the 
matchless  career  of  that  leader  whom  the  elder  Pitt  pronounced  a 
"  heaven-born  general." 

Notice  of  the  governor's  coming  to  Arcot  had  been  sent  forward. 
The  native  collector  of  revenue  met  us  at  Ranepet,  the  railway- 
station  for  that  district.  He  is  thirty  years  old,  speaks  English 
fluently,  and  was  elaborately  dressed  in  native  costume.  He  was 
surrounded  by  some  dozen  Hindoos.  He  proceeded  at  once  to 
place  in  Lord  Napier's  hands  flowers  and  fresh  limes,  at  the  same 
time  covering  him  with  garlands  of  flowers.     When  the  agent  had 


340  BRITISH  INDIA. 

been  presented  to  us,  we  were  severally  honored  with  the  same 
compliment.  We  inquired  whether  this  was  a  voluntary  and  popu- 
lar expression  of  welcome,  or  a  prescribed  one,  and  learned  that  the 
ceremony  is  the  Hindoo  form  of  homage  to  a  ruler.  At  the  gate 
of  the  station  we  encountered  a  crowd,  obsequious  rather  than 
respectful,  who  threw  flowers  in  our  path,  and  invested  us  with 
new  wreaths.  Thus  splendidly  adorned,  we  passed  under  a  floral 
arch  to  the  carriages.  At  the  instant  of  stepping  in,  a  Hindoo  band 
broke  into  a  musical  jargon,  which  frightened  the  horses,  threaten- 
ing us  with  serious  danger.  A  sepoy  body  of  infantry  had  loaded, 
intending  to  honor  his  excellency  with  a  fusillade,  but  at  our  re- 
quest that  ceremony  was  dispensed  with.  We  drove  over  a  good 
turnpike  causeway  to  the  village  of  Ranepet,  a  suburb  of  Arcot, 
The  road  is  bordered  with  mangoes,  tamarinds,  yellow  flowering 
acacia,  and  the  Acacia  vera^  whose  juice  when  coagulated  is  gum- 
Arabic.  Honorary  green  arches  decorated  the  way,  and  innumera- 
ble flambeaux  illuminated  it.  The  approach  to  the  town  showed  us 
the  never-failing  Hindoo  temple,  which,  however  small,  is  always 
graceful  in  form,  and  elegant  in  construction ;  opposite  to  it,  is  a 
Mohammedan  mosque,  and,  farther  on,  a  chapel  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  an  American  mission  meeting-house.  Here  also  are 
the  offices  of  the  collector  of  the  revenue.  These  buildings,  together 
with  the  barracks  and  many  weather-worn  monuments  of  British 
heroes  who  fell  here,  are  the  only  relics  of  the  city  of  Arcot,  so  dis- 
tinguished in  the  history  of  the  conquest.  For  aught  we  can  see, 
the  natives  have  forgotten,  if  they  ever  had  the  idea  of,  political 
independence.  We  were  the  guests  of  the  British  superior  officer 
of  the  district.  Yesterday  morning  our  party  divided  ;  Lord  l^apier 
and  Mr.  Seward  went  to  see  the  fountain  and  agricultural  village 
of  Cauverypak,  distant  thirty  miles.  Artificial  conduits  intercept 
mountain-torrents,  and  convey  their  waters  to  this  reservoir,  which 
is  enclosed  by  a  granite  wall  supported  by  broad  embankments.  A 
dam,  forty  feet  high,  is  raised  across  the  natural  outlet.  The  em- 
bankments are  strengthened,  on  the  outer  declivity,  by  mango  and 
palm  trees.  Thus  the  reservoir  forms  a  lake  of  pure  water,  high 
above  the  surrounding  country,  which  is  five  miles  wide  and  seven 


HINDOO   AGPJCULTUEE.  341 

miles  long — and,  at  high  water,  thirteen  feet  deep.  We  have  taken 
pains  to  describe  this  pretty  lake  of  Cauverypak,  because  it  is  a 
good  specimen  of  ancient  reservoirs,  constructed  for  h-rigation,  in 
the  country — which  are  innumerable — and  all  of  which  alike  bear 
the  ugly  name  of  "  tank." 

The  system  of  culture  will  be  easily  understood  when  we  have 
mentioned  that  a  broad  plain  stretches  away  from  the  base  of  the 
fountain  farther  than  the  eye  can  reach.  Out  of  this  plain  arise 
thirty-two  gentle  knolls,  on  each  of  which  stands  an  agricultural 
village,  and  these  villages  contain  an  aggregate  population  of  a 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  Cauverypak  is  one  of  these.  These 
people  cultivate  the  entire  plain  in  fields  varying  from  an  acre 
to  fifteen  acres.  The  staple  production  is  rice.  Grounds  which, 
owing  to  a  drought,  fail  to  receive  a  full  supply  of  water  from  the 
reservoir,  are  called  "  dry  fields,"  and  these  are  tilled  with  cereals 
and  vegetables,  or  serve  as  pasturage  for  sheep  and  cattle.  Cau- 
verypak was  found  exactly  in  its  present  condition  by  the  first 
British  adventurers,  but  it  stands  without  record  or  tradition. 

It  was  a  principle  of  the  system  of  native  government  in  India, 
that  not  only  all  the  lands,  but  also  all  the  waters  in  a  province, 
belong  to  the  reigning  prince,  whatever  title  he  might  wear,  king, 
maharajah,  rajah,  or  nawab.  He  leased  them  to  zemindars  (large 
landlords),  or  to  ryots  (lesser  farmers),  who  paid  for  their  use. 
according  to  a  tariff  graduated  with  just  relation  to  the  productive- 
ness of  the  estates. 

The  British  Government  has  come  into  the  places  of  the  princes, 
and  the  Madras  presidency  maintains  the  "  tanks,"  and  receives 
the  rents.     The  average  rent  is  four  dollars  per  acre. 

Drought  is  a  normal  incident  in  India,  and  is  the  cause  of  the 
famines  of  which  we  so  often  read.  In  such  cases  the  Government 
remits  the  rents,  but  the  zemindars  and  ryots  are  nevertheless  left 
w^ithout  means  for  the  support  of  their  families.  The  extortion 
practised  upon  them  by  usurers  is  frightful.  Cauverypak  village 
contains  ten  thousand  people,  three  hundred  of  whom  are  ryots ; 
the  others  chiefly  mechanics  and  laborers.  Many  of  the  ryots 
belong  to  the  privileged  castes  of  Bramins,  who  were   not  only 


342  BRITISH  INDIA. 

exemj)t  from  labor,  "but  forbidden  it.  Lord  I^apier  and  Mr.  Sew- 
ard were  received  by  the  chief  Bramin  rjot  at  his  house.  It  is  a 
stone  structure  of  one  low  story,  with  reception-room,  dining-room, 
kitchen,  and  stable,  built  around  on  all  sides  of  an  open  square. 
In  the  centre  of  the  square,  was  a  reservoir,  an  open  cistern  for 
gathering  and  holding  rain.  Again  we  ask.  Did  the  Eomans  bor- 
row their  impluvmm  from  the  East  ?  In  rear  of  this  quadrangular 
building  is  another  of  exactly  the  same  form  and  dimensions.  The 
one  opening  on  the  street  is  the  dwelling  of  the  ryot  and  his  family  ; 
the  other  is  appropriated  to  the  use  of  visitors.  In  the  stable  are 
six  small  oxen,  which  are  used  in  cultivation,  the  whole  six  valued 
at  seventy-five  doUars.  The  manure,  like  the  animals  themselves, 
being  sacred,  is  carefully  preserved  for  burning  in  the  temples. 
Hindoo  architecture  has  a  peculiar  feature.  The  veranda,  indis- 
pensable in  this  climate,  is  supported  by  delicate,  palm-shaped 
columns,  each  of  which  is  ornamented  with  a  broad  brass  band  at 
the  top.  There  are  no  bedrooms,  but  each  corridor  or  passage- 
way has  at  each  end  a  dais  eighteen  inches  high,  covered  with  a 
mat,  which  serves  for  a  bed.  The  small  garden-plat  attached  to 
the  house  is  filled  with  cocoa-nut  trees,  bananas,  and  beans.  The 
Bramin's  furniture  is  simple  enough.  He  has  two  plain  tables, 
two  bamboo  chairs,  and  several  fine  silken  rugs.  Refreshments  are 
not  usually  ofiered,  but  on  this  occasion  fresh  milk  was  served  in 
brazen  jugs.  The  village  has  two  Hindoo  temples  and  one 
mosque.  The  school,  maintained  by  the  Madras  government,  has 
a  hundred  and  fifty  native  pupils.  Besides  this,  there  are  twenty 
native  schools,  some  Hindoo,  some  Mohammedan,  where  pupils  are 
received  and  taught  separately,  with  careful  regard  to  their  social 
castes.  Mr.  Seward  asked  the  ryot,  who  is  a  spiritual  authority, 
whether  education  is  approved  by  the  Bramins.  "  Yes,"  answered 
the  Hindoo.  "  "Why  ?  "  "  Because  it  is  pleasing  to  the  gods." 
"  Why  does  it  please  the  gods  ? "  "  Because  it  improves  the  mind, 
and  makes  it  appreciative  of  heaven." 

The  poor  villagers  gathered  around  the  visitors,  and  some  of 
the  older  ones  seemed  desirous  of  conversation.  They  gave  Mr. 
Seward  an  account  of  the  number  of  pupils  in  each  of  the  several 


A  OAR   OF  JUGGERNAUT.  343 

schools.  They  seemed  confounded  when  he  asked  if  these  num- 
bers inchided  the  girls ;  they  replied,  "  Only  the  boys."  When 
asked  how  the  girls  are  educated,  they  said,  "  No  girls  are  educated 
except  N^autch  girls." 

Passing  through  an  open  paved  square,  Mr.  Seward's  attention 
was  caught  by  a  rough,  uncouth,  and  unwieldy  vehicle.  It  consists 
of  a  platform  ten  feet  long  and  eight  feet  wide,  laid  upon  axles,  on 
which  turned  four  wooden  wheels,  all  of  one  size,  not  more  than 
ten  or  twelve  inches  in  diameter.  In  front  of  the  platform  stands 
a  carved  and  unpainted  idol,  ten  feet  high,  with  hideous  allegorical 
emblems  and  devices.  This  is  a  car  of  Juggernaut.  It  is  drawn 
through  the  streets  by  the  people,  during  sacred  ceremonies.  Im- 
molation of  devotees  is  now  forbidden  by  British  law.  There  would 
seem,  however,  to  be  little  need  for  that  prohibition.  It  would 
require  great  skill  and  eifort  on  the  part  of  a  votary  to  get  his  neck 
under  the  wheels  of  the  awkward  machine.  If  we  did  not  know 
that  superstition  is  as  blind  as  it  is  overpowering,  we  could  not 
believe  that  any  human  mind  could  conceive  such  a  deformed  and 
misshapen  statue  to  be  a  god.  Mr.  Seward's  survey  of  the  interest- 
ing little  village  closed  with  an  exploration  of  the  suburb  which  is 
allotted  to  the  pariahs,  the  lepers,  the  outcasts  of  India.  Their 
habitations  are  mean  and  wretched  beyond  description,  but  their 
condition  is  not  without  a  compensation.  "While  all  other  castes 
are  obliged  by  their  laws  to  abstain  from  animal  food,  and  forbid- 
den to  take  animal  life,  the  pariahs  are  allowed  to  use  the  car- 
casses of  the  animals  found  dead.  In  this  way,  they  have  become 
the  tanners  of  the  country.  It  is  no  wonder  that  they  are  care- 
fully watched,  to  prevent  their  slaying  domestic  animals  under  the 
pretext  of  finding  them  dead. 

During  their  long  drive.  Lord  Napier  and  Mr.  Seward  saw  only 
one  beggar,  and  he  was  blind — a  Bramin.  Having  been  led  up 
to  their  carriage  by  neighbors,  he  declined  to  receive  alms,  because 
he  had  left  behind  him  his  brazen  basin  through  which  he  alone 
could  accept  coin  from  any  one  not  of  his  own  caste,  without  per- 
sonal contamination.  When,  however,  he  felt  the  weight  of  a 
rupee  carefully  dropped   into  his   sleeve,  he  turned  his  eyeballs 


344  BRITISH  INDIA. 

in  the  direction  from  which  the  party  had  come,  and  sung  a  plain- 
tive native  melody.  Lord  I^apier  asked  how  old  he  was  ;  he 
answered,  "Seventy."  "What  is  the  song  you  have  sung  so 
sweetly  ?  "  "  It  is  a  hymn  of  praise  to  the  gods  whom  your  lord- 
ship passed  on  the  road  as  you  came  here."  "  How  is  it  you  sing 
to  the  gods,  when  they  have  made  you  blind  ? "  "  The  gods  have 
indeed  willed  that  I  shall  be  blind,"  the  mendicant  Hindoo  replied, 
"  but  they  protect  me  still." 

During  Mr.  Seward's  absence  the  ladies  remained  at  Ranepet. 
They  had  appointed  to  attend  early  worship  at  the  missionary- 
chapel.  The  matin  summons  was  sounded,  not  by  bells,  but  by  a 
noisy  chattering  of  birds.  Springing  up  and  going  quickly  to  the 
veranda,  they  saw  that  the  deciduous  trees  around  the  bungalow 
(which  had  dropped  nearly  all  their  leaves)  were  as  green  as  ever, 
for  they  were  filled  with  parrots  and  paroquets. 

The  Arcot  mission  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  of  America 
(now  the  Reformed  Church)  was  established  in  1855,  by  three 
brothers  Scudder,  sons  of  the  eminent  missionary  who  labored  here 
thirty  years  ago.  Beyond  a  doubt,  the  success  of  this  mission  is 
due  to  the  persevering  energy  and  winning  address  of  these 
preachers,  but  it  was  more  to  their  happy  combination  of  medical 
practice  with  their  religious  teachings.  Medical  science  and  skill 
are  at  a  low  ebb  on  the  Asiatic  Continent,  while  they  have  attained 
a  high  development  in  the  West.  This  superiority  is  known  and 
felt  even  by  the  very  lowest  classes  in  the  East.  The  Christian 
physician,  who  comes  to  heal  the  body,  naturally  finds  his  patient 
in  a  proper  temper  for  the  healing  of  the  soul. 

The  municipal  district  in  which  the  Arcot  mission  is  established 
is  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles  square.  The  missionaries 
found  within  it  only  thirty-five  native  Christians,  and  these  were 
without  a  church  or  a  school.  The  missionaries  (six  in  number) 
have  now  fifty  native  helpers,  who  teach  day-school  in  seventeen 
villages.  They  have  their  boarding-schools,  two  for  boys,  one  for 
girls,  all  voluntary  pupils.  The  converts  intermarry.  The  chil- 
dren thus  educated,  although  belonging  to  all  the  various  castes  of 
the  country,  are  placed  upon  a  footing  of  complete  equality.     The 


THE  MISSIONxiRY   HOSPITAL.  345 

boarding-scliool  at  Ranepet,  wliieh  is  the  most  successful  one,  oc- 
cupies large  government  barracks.  Dr.  Scudder  has  introduced 
some  trades  into  this  school,  the  principal  one  that  of  weaving  on 
native  looms.  But  even  a  more  beneficent  institution  than  these 
schools  is  a  medical  hospital.  The  Madras  government  appropri- 
ates to  it,  in  addition  to  the  requisite  buildings,  one  hundred  and 
seventy-two  rupees  (about  eighty-five  dollars)  monthly.  The  in- 
stitution was  founded  in  1866,  and,  during  the  past  je?a',  fifty-three 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  sixty-three  patients  were  gratuitously 
treated  from  its  dispensary.  Seven  hundred  and  fifty-three  of 
these  were  in-door  patients,  who  were  provided  with  beds,  food, 
and  clothing.  Lord  Napier  has  added  to  this  useful  charity  a 
spacious  house  in  which  persons  of  difterent  castes  may  prepare 
their  own  food  and  live  separately,  according  to  their  native  cus- 
toms. Tliis  noble  mission  draws  from  its  patrons  in  the  United 
States  only  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  a  year.  The  simple 
homes,  frugal  habits,  and  patient  labors,  of  these  missionaries  and 
their  families,  are  worthy  of  all  praise  and  admiration.  The  mis- 
sionaries are  full  of  hope,  though  they  confess  the  work  of  conver- 
sion is  very  slow.  They  gain  only  one  hundred  a  year  within  the 
district.  Nevertheless  a  manifest  improvement  in  the  condition  of 
the  people  is  visible.  With  this  improvement,  if  it  shall  go  on,  we 
must  be  content,  for  we  trust  that — 

""Whatever  creed  be  taught  or  land  he  trod, 
Man's  conscience  is  the  oracle  of  God." 

February  23f?. — We  visited  yesterday  the  suburb  called  the 
"  Portuguese  Settlement ; "  so  called,  not  because  it  is  under  Por- 
tuguese jurisdiction,  but  because  it  was  the  site  of  the  Portuguese 
factory,  before  the  British  conquest.  Its  inhabitants,  of  native  and 
mixed  Portuguese,  are  Christians,  and  speak  the  Portuguese  lan- 
guage. They  have  a  cathedral,  with  an  exemplary  bishop  from 
Lisbon.  The  cathedral  bears  the  name  of  St.  Thomas,  to  whom 
tradition  attributes  the  first  teaching  of  the  gospel  here.  However 
this  particular  fact  may  be,  the  opinion  that  that  apostle  preached 
the  gospel  on  the  Coromandel  coast  is  well  supported  by  historical 


340  BRITISn  INDIA. 

arfruments.  Marco  Polo  found  native  Christians  here,  who  claimed 
that  their  church  was  planted  by  the  doubting  disciple.  Yasco  de 
Gama  found  native  Christians  on  the  coast  durmg  his  second  voyage 
of  discovery.  Guides  show  us  the  hill  and  cave  at  Malapoo,  where 
it  is  alleged  that  St.  Thomas  sought  refuge  and  suffered  martyrdom. 
They  say  that  even  the  threshold  of  the  cave  still  bears  the  impress 
of  his  foot. 

Gindy  Parle,  February  24:th. — "We  have  come  to  pass  a  day  at 
this  summer  palace.  On  the  way  we  inspected  a  "  model  farm," 
which  is  maintained  by  the  Madras  government.  Tlii-ee  hundred 
acres  are  divided  into  two  equal  parts,  of  which  one  is  used  for  the 
cultivation  of  exotic  grains,  plants,  and  seeds ;  the  other  is  culti- 
vated with  European  implements  only — the  design  being  to  com- 
mend Western  agriculture  to  the  natives.  TVe  learn  that  the 
institution  gains  favor.  "We  were  much  interested  in  a  small  ham- 
let through  which  we  passed.  The  inhabitants  are  wanderers  from 
Northern  India.  It  is  maintained,  not  without  plausibility,  that 
the  Gypsies  of  Europe  are  descended  from  the  same  class.  Their 
pretty  habitations  are  in  mango-orchards,  and  are  built  of  branches 
of  palm,  exactly  in  the  shape  of  a  beehive.  They  gather  the  fruit, 
and  pay  to  the  Madras  government  an  annual  rent  of  two  rupees 
(a  dollar)  a  year  for  each  tree.  We  imagine  they  are  the  only  rent- 
paying  tenants  of  their  outcast  race.  We  have  seen  a  specimen  of 
Hindoo  "vdllage-schools.  Thirty  boys,  most  of  them  naked,  were 
sitting  in  the  sand,  under  the  shade  of  a  wide-spreading  mango- 
tree,  in  a  circle.  The  master  stood  in  the  centre,  rod  in  hand,  and 
gave  out  successive  lessons,  in  the  Tamil  language,  in  spelling  and 
arithmetic.  The  whole  school,  simultaneously,  took  the  words  from 
his  mouth,  giving  them  back  with  their  own  ;  and  at  the  same  time 
wrote  the  words  with  their  fingers  in  the  sand.  These  children 
showed  great  agility,  as  well  as  quickness  of  apprehension.  No 
sooner  had  they  written  the  text  in  the  ground,  than  they  sprang  to 
their  feet,  raised  their  right  hands  to  their  foreheads  and  made  a 
salam,  indicating  that  they  were  ready  to  receive  the  next  lesson. 
We  crossed  a  stone  bridge  which  has  stood  a  hundi'ed  and  fifty 


GINDY   PARK.  347 

years  with  only  the  repair  of  a  parapet.  A  small  tenement  beneath 
the  bridge  was  pointed  out  to  us  as  the  dwelling  of  the  descendants 
of  the  Armenian  merchant  who  brought  himself  to  poverty  in  build- 
ing the  magnificent  structure. 

Gindy  House  is  even  more  extensive  and  elegant  than  Govern- 
ment House  at  Madras.  The  park  contains  fifteen  hundred  acres. 
Native  deer,  of  the  four  kinds  known  in  India,  sport  on  the  lawns. 
Instead  of  alighting  at  a  gate  or  j^orte-cochere,  we  were  driven  to 
a  shade  in  the  beautiful  gardens.  They  exhibit  a  luxuriance 
unknown  in  colder  climates.  Every  wall,  every  thatched  roof, 
every  gateway  and  column,  seems  to  have  been  especially  designed 
to  support  a  flowering  creeper,  which  nearly  conceals  the  structure, 
and  these  plants  are  as  various  in  hue  as  in  the  form  of  tendril  or 
leaf.  Efibrts  are  made  to  produce  northern  exotics,  as  studied  as 
those  which  we  at  home  make  to  cultivate  tropical  plants.  The 
success  in  each  case  is  about  the  same. 

We  doubt  which  was  most  efi'ective,  the  gorgeous  display  of 
flowers  around  us,  or  the  dew-drops  which  glistened  on  grass,  and 
flowers,  and  trees,  under  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun.  The  heat 
increasing  rapidly,  we  took  shelter  under  a  noble  mango,  where 
the  morning  libation  of  tea  was  made.  We  talked  and  laughed  at 
translations  of  the  highly-imaginative  native  poetry.  We  dined 
en  famille  at  the  palace,  and,  as  the  evening  shades  came  on, 
adjourned  to  a  fete-champetre  in  the  gardens.  The  society  of 
Madras  was  there.  If  any  thing  was  needed  to  heighten  the  brill- 
iant scene,  it  was  found  in  the  exquisite  music  of  the  military 
bands,  which  played  airs  in  echo  across  the  broad  park  and  on  its 
beautiful  lakes. 

Madras^  February  26i(A. — l^ew  acquaintances  and  new  studies. 
The  diamond  merchant  is  an  important  personage  in  every  Asiatic 
country,  for  diamonds  are  the  favorite  investment  of  wealth.  An 
eminent  Armenian  of  that  class  breakfasted  at  Government  House 
this  morning.  His  organ  of  perception  is  strongly  developed,  and 
he  has  a  shrewd,  almost  furtive  expression.  He  was  entertained 
in  the  most  acceptable  manner  by  being  allowed  to  exhibit  for 


348  BRITISH  INDIA. 

our  instruction  the  contents  of  his  waistcoat-pockets,  consisting  of 
diamonds  of  every  size  and  of  every  water,  jewels  quite  sufficient 
for  a  coronation,  and  even  enougli  to  satisfy  the  ambition  of  a  Fifth 
Avenue  belle.  He  gave  us  a  relation  of  what  he  considered  the 
greatest  transaction  of  his  life :  Having  acquired  in  the  course  of 
trade  an  extraordinary  diamond,  he  sent  his  son  to  Europe  to  sell 
it.  The  son  was  admitted  to  the  Tuileries,  and  the  empress  bought 
it;  it  is  one  of  the  "pear-shaped"  diamond  ear-rings  which  figured 
so  conspicuously  in  the  inventory  of  her  jewels.  The  empress 
called  for  "the  regent,"  and  showed  it  to  the  young  Armenian. 
"My  son,"  said  the  merchant,  "was  permitted  to  take  that  cele- 
brated gem  in  his  hand  ;  he  looked  into  it  through  tears  of  joy, 
and  did  not  give  it  back  until  he  had  pressed  it  to  his  lips." 

Ecemng. — It  will  be  a  mournful  day  for  Madras  when  Lord  and 
Lady  JS'apier  take  their  leave.  "While  he  builds  and  endows  uni- 
versities and  hospitals,  there  is  no  charity  which  she  neglects.  We 
visited  an  orphan  asylum  with  her  to-day,  and  afterward  an  asylum 
for  the  children  of  the  Sepoys.  Although  the  studies  for  the  day 
were  ended,  and  the  children  were  at  play  in  the  grounds,  they 
came  cheerfully  up  and  took  their  places  in  the  examination-room. 
They  inquired  what  they  should  sing  for  us.  Mr.  Seward  proposed 
"  From  Greenland's  icy  mountains."  They  sang  it  in  full  chorus, 
and  insisted  upon  our  naming  another.  They  sang  this  too ;  then, 
following  us  to  the  gate,  gave  us  "  God  save  the  Queen." 

Perhaps  the  best,  certainly  the  most  interesting,  of  these  noble 
charities,  is  the  normal  school  for  the  instruction  of  native  women. 
It  has  fifteen  pupils,  all  of  high  caste.  They  are  educated  free  of 
charge,  and  even  paid  for  their  attendance.  They  are  driven  to 
and  from  the  school-house  in  close  carriages,  so  that  they  may  not 
be  "  seen  of  men."  We  fear  that  the  importance  of  this  noble  step 
toward  the  civilization  of  the  East  is  scarcely  realized  at  home. 
We  noticed  among  the  pupils  a  girl  of  seventeen,  distinguished 
from  her  dark-eyed  companions  by  a  sad  demeanor  and  plaintive 
voice.  In  a  single  year  she  had  lost  her  husband  whom  she  loved, 
and  her  only  child.     The  laws  of  her  caste  doomed  her  to  seclusion 


THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL. 


349 


and  celibacy  for  life,  to  give  up  her  jewels,  friends,  and  hopes.     The 
normal  school  allows  her  activity,  cheerfulness,  and  usefulness. 

We  learn  that  the  Duke  of  Argyll,  Secretary  for  India,  takes  a 
deep  interest  in  the  institution,  and  lias  just  sent  out  from  England 
a  young  lady  to  take  charge  of  it,  who  was  educated  for  that  pur- 
pose in  the  United  States. 


THE  SCKP  AT  MADRAS. 


CHAPTER  III. 

FROM  MADRAS  TO   CALCUTTA. 


The  Surf  at  Madras.— On  the  Bay  of  Bengal.— The  Lion-Whelps.— The  Hoogly.— The 
Viceroy's  Invitation. — Earl  and  Countess  Mayo. — Glimpses  of  Calcutta. — The  Baboo. 
— The  Baboo's  House  and  Harem. — The  Government  House. 


Steamer  Australia,  Bay  of  Bengal,  February  21th. — The  surf 
never  ceases  to  beat  and  break  against  the  shore  at  Madras.  A 
dozen  years  ago  an  attempt  was  made  to  overcome  the  difficulty  by 
extending  a  pier  into  the  sea.  But  there  was  found  neither  capi- 
tal nor  engineering  skill  anywhere  sufficient  to  make  the  work 
effective. 

"We  insisted  on  leaving  the  shore  in  the  primitive  way.  A 
native  surf-boat,  eighteen  feet  long,  five  feet  wide,  and  six  feet  deep, 
was  hauled  high  and  dry  on  the  beach.  The  boat  is  constructed 
with  bamboo-withes  instead  of  spikes  and  nails,  to  prevent  leakage, 
and  of  material  so  light,  and  proportions  so  exact,  that  no  weight  of 
water  will  cause  it  to  sink.  It  is  presumed  always  that,  notwith- 
standing the  boat  is  so  deep,  it  will  fill  in  going  through  the  break- 
ers. For  this  reason,  the  passengers,  as  well  as  the  oarsmen,  sit  on 
benches  which  are  stretched  across  the  boat's  brim,  and  each  bench 
serves  as  a  brace  for  the  feet  of  the  occupants  of  the  bench  behind  it. 
We  were  lifted  in  chairs  by  Hindoos  and  spilled  on  the  benches  in 
the  stern,  under  the  awning  of  British  flags.  A  secretary  and  an 
aide-de-camp  of  the  governor  were  with  us,  and  we  enjoyed  our 


THE  LION-WIIELPS.  351 

new  excitement  as  our  score  of  boatmen,  with  merry  sliouts  and 
clieerful  song,  laboriously  forced  the  boat  through  the  foaming 
surf. 

We  sailed  at  four  o'clock.  K  the  thought  gave  us  sadness  that 
we  were  never  to  see  Madras  again,  we  consoled  ourselves  with  the 
reflection  that,  even  if  a  return  were  possible,  we  should  not  find 
there  the  same  friends ;  and  what  could  we  see,  or  know,  or  enjoy, 
there  without  them  ? 

Bay  of  Bengal^  February  '2^th. — Once  again  on  the  same  calm 
sea,  with  the  same  southern  breezes,  protected  by  the  broad  awning 
from  the  same  burning  sun.  Our  two  weeks  of  rest  and  recreation 
at  Madras  already  seem  not  so  much  an  episode  of  our  voyage,  as 
a  refreshing  and  inspiring  dream.  At  daylight  we  had  reached 
shoal  water,  and  a  channel  marked  by  lighted  buoys.  Birds  sur- 
romided  the  ship  in  great  numbers.  Sailing-ships  and  steamers 
continually  shot  by  us.  Consulting  the  chart,  we  found  that,  al- 
though no  land  was  \asible,  we  had  entered  between  the  capes 
which  guard  the  entrance  of  the  Hoogly  into  the  bay  of  Bengal. 
We  took  a  native  pilot. 

The  Hoogly  is  one  of  the  rivers  which,  dividing  into  a  thou- 
sand creeks,  and  through  as  many  lagoons,  discharge  the  mighty 
flood  of  the  Ganges.  Ever-moving  sand-bars  render  the  navigation 
here  uncertain  and  perilous.  We  slackened  our  speed  from  forty- 
nhie  to  fourteen  revolutions  until  the  flood-tide  set  in.  Low,  sandy 
shores  at  length  appeared.  Subject  at  all  seasons  to  terrible  inun- 
dations, they  have  never  been  reclaimed  for  tillage,  and  are  often 
strewn  with  the  bodies  of  animals,  and  sometimes  with  human 
bodies. 

Our  ship  ought  to  receive  a  demonstrative  welcome  at  Calcutta, 
for  she  bears  two  African  lion-whelps  to  grace  the  menagerie  of 
some  potentate  there  ;  whether  native  prince  or  European  viceroy, 
w^e  have  not  learned.  Although  but  three  months  old,  these 
"  babes  "  have  attained  a  large  size.  They  stare  at  us  boldly  with 
their  big  green  eyes,  and  switch  theii-  tails  with  a  savage  inde- 
pendence. 


352  BEITISII   INDIA. 

March  1st. — The  Iloogly  has  shrunk  to  the  width  of  the  Hud- 
son at  Poughkeepsie.  The  vegetation  here  is  as  luxuriant  as  at  the 
equator.  Very  soon,  however,  these  pahn-shaded  fields,  though  so 
freshly  overflowed,  will  become  dry  and  brown. 

Although  we  are  entering  Calcutta  before  the  vernal  equinox, 
the  heat  is  already  intense.  If  we  distrust  our  strength  to  explore 
the  continent  before  us,  we  have  nevertheless  the  inspiring  thought 
that  we  are  floating  on  the  Ganges  we  have  so  long  desired  to  see — 
the  Ganges,  notwithstanding  it  is  called  here  by  the  less  eupho- 
nious name  of  the  Hoogly. 

Calcutta^  March  2(7. — As  we  approached  the  wharf  yesterday, 
the  viceroy's  barge — manned  by  thirty  Bengalese  boatmen  in  scarlet 
livery — rounded  up  to  the  Australia's  side.  Major  Burne  (private 
secretary  of  the  viceroy)  came  on  board,  accompanied  by  the 
United  States  consul-general,  Mr.  Jacobs,  and  Mr.  McAllister,  an 
American  residing  here.  Major  Burne  delivered  a  letter  from  the 
viceroy,  inviting  us  to  be  guests  at  Government  House  during  our 
stay  here.  Mr.  Seward  had  before  accepted  the  invitation  of  the 
consul-general  and  Mr.  McAllister.  The  matter  was  quickly  com- 
promised, with  the  understanding  that,  after  passing  some  days 
with  our  countrymen,  we  should  accept  the  hospitalities  of  the 
viceroy. 

Last  night  happened  to  be  a  "  state  "  one  at  the  opera ;  that  is 
to  say,  the  performance  then  was  to  be  honored  by  the  presence  of 
the  viceroy.  The  representation  of  "  Lucia  di  Lammermoor  "  by  an 
Italian  troupe,  before  a  fashionable  assemblage,  made  us  aware  that 
we  had  at  last  reached  the  Eastern  verge  of  Western  society. 
Earl  Mayo  and  the  Countess  of  Mayo,  in  the  central  box,  were  sur- 
rounded by  their  suite,  and  a  group  of  native  princes,  or  rajahs, 
whose  gold  and  jewels  far  outshone  those  worn  by  the  ladies  of  the 
viceregal  court.  Between  the  acts  Mr.  Seward  w\as  presented  to 
the  viceroy,  and  afterward  to  the  brilliant  circle.  Llis  lordship  in- 
sisted that  Mr.  Seward,  without  taking  upon  himself  the  trouble  of 
making  a  preliminary  visit,  should  with  his  family  lunch  at  Govern- 
ment House  to-day,  and  then,  or  as  soon  after  as  convenient,  become 


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THE   CITY  OF  PALACES.  353 

inmates  of  tliat  houseliold.     He  was  further  informed  tliat  carriages 
and  barges  would  be  at  his  orders  during  his  stay  here. 

The  Earl  of  Mayo  is  purely  Irish.  He  is  tall,  handsome,  and 
lias  a  commanding  presence,  with  manners  which,  though  dignified, 
are  frank  and  genial.  As  Lord  Kaas,  he  was  many  years  a  conser- 
vative member  of  Parliament,  and  was  Secretary  for  Ireland  during 
the  Disraeli  administration. 

March  2cl,  Evening. — "We  have  enjoyed  a  pleasant  morning  at 
Government  House.  This  evening,  the  few  Americans  residing 
here  dined  with  us  at  Mr.  McAllister's.  The  fact  that  they  all 
hail  from  Boston  is  creditable  to  the  enterprise  of  that  intellectual 
city. 

During  the  day  we  had  some  glimpses  of  Calcutta.  K  it  were 
in  the  West,  its  aspect  would  hardly  justify  the  distinction  it  bears 
— "the  City  of  Palaces."  The  government  buildings  are  indeed 
extensive,  numerous,  and  substantial ;  but,  in  point  of  architecture, 
they  are  respectable  rather  than  imposing.  Private  dwellings  of 
foreigners  combine  European  solidity  with  the  graceful  Oriental 
verandas  and  columns ;  but  they  have  no  pretentious  magnificence. 
The  native  city  contains  many  stately  residences  of  pleasant  aspect, 
but  generally  the  dwellings  are  low  and  common.  The  appearance 
of  the  whole  city  (the  foreign  as  well  as  the  native  part)  is  sj)oiled 
by  a  wretched  stucco  which,  by  exposure  to  the  weather,  becomes 
dingy  and  discolored.  The  suburbs  on  the  river-banks  are  disfig- 
ured with  brick-yards,  counted  not  by  hundreds,  but  by  thousands. 
The  array  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  city  is  enjoying  a  vigor- 
ous growth  ;  inquiry,  however,  brings  out  the  fact  that  no  sand  fit 
for  building  is  found  in  the  vicinity,  and  bricks  are  therefore  bm-ned 
and  pulverized  as  a  substitute  for  that  necessary  article. 

March  4:th. — A  northeaster  set  in  on  the  1st,  and  we  have 
since  had  cold  rains.  The  "  oldest  inhabitant "  says  that  this  is  a 
new  freak  of  the  climate.  Hard  as  it  has  rained,  we  have  never- 
theless been  obliged  to  go  abroad,  for — after  seven  months'  travel, 
as  may  be  easily  imagined — we  have   pretty  much  come  to  the 


354  BRITISH  INDIA. 

nnhaj^py  condition  of  our  celebrated  countrywoman,  "  Miss  Flora 
McFlimsey."  Our  troubles  are  aggravated  at  the  state  of  the 
market,  which,  they  say,  is  just  experiencing  the  calamitous  effects 
of  the  war  between  Germany  and  France.  Gloves  are  not  to  be 
had  in  Calcutta. 

The  "  haboo,^''  called  by  Burke,  in  his  invective  against  Warren 
Hastings,  the  "  banyan,"  is  a  native  trained  to  trade,  and  speaks 
English.  Like  the  comprador  in  China  and  Japan,  he  attaches 
himself  to  a  mercantile  house,  to  an  official  contractor,  or  some 
other  business  concern  (either  native  or  foreign),  and  negotiates 
commercial  matters  ;  receiving  commissions  from  one  party  or  the 
other,  according  to  circumstances.  He  often  rises  to  wealth  and 
influence.  One  of  this  class  solicited  a  visit  from  Mr.  Seward,  add- 
ing that,  while  the  baboo  and  his  sons  would  receive  him,  the  ladies 
would  be  welcomed  by  the  zenana.  Such  a  courtesy  is  rarely,  if 
ever,  extended  to  foreigners. 

The  foundation  of  this  baboo's  fortune  was  laid  by  his  father 
long  ago,  in  connection  with  an  American  house ;  and  the  present 
incumbent,  who  is  seventy  years  old,  has  added  to  his  wealth  and 
importance.  He  has  now  his  fifth  wife.  We  visited  him  to-day. 
The  house,  though  more  cheaply  built  than  those  of  the  wealthy 
class  which  we  saw  at  Canton,  is  of  the  same  model.  It  is  three 
stories  high,  and  covers  the  sides  of  a  square  as  large  as  one  of  the 
blocks  of  Philadelphia.  The  area  within  is  used  for  fountains  and 
baths.  A  group,  consisting  of  the  baboo's  three  sons  and  their 
sons,  received  us  at  the  gate,  very  obsequiously.  They  showed  us 
the  way  to  a  grand  hall,  having  a  vaulted  roof  and  double  colon- 
nade. A  few  elegant  chairs,  with  yellow-satin  cushions,  placed  on 
a  scarlet-velvet  rug  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  constituted  the  fur- 
niture. Here  the  eldest  son  welcomed  Mr.  Seward  in  a  eulogistic 
English  oration,  and  then  presented  his  several  brothers  and  each 
of  the  lads  in  attendance.  Brightly-dressed  servants  meanwhile 
stirred  the  air  with  large  peacock-fans,  mounted  on  massive  silver 
handles  five  feet  long ;  others,  to  the  great  prejudice  of  the  ladies' 
dresses,  sprinkled  us  from  head  to  foot  with  rose-water  from  silver 
vases ;  others,  again,  covered  us  with  garlands  and  bouquets  ;  and 


TEE   BABOO'S   HAEEM,  355 

yet  others  held  before  us  silver  vases  containing  the  attar  of  roses  for 
perfuming  the  hands.  These  ceremonies  over,  we  ascended  to  the 
baboo's  room,  in  the  third  story.  Quite  infirm,  he  was  dressed  as  a 
valetudinarian,  though  richly.  He  welcomed  Mr.  Seward  as  the 
"great  father  of  the  greatest  of  the  nations."  The  baboo  con- 
ducted us  then  to  an  adjacent  drawing-room,  and  ordered  that  all 
the  children  of  the  house,  not  excepting  the  youngest,  girls  as  well 
as  boys,  should  be  brought  in  by  their  ayahs  (nurses).  Twenty 
infants  were  brought  in,  gaudily  dressed.  The  little  ones  acted 
their  proper  parts  with  entire  truth  to  nature :  some  shrank 
backward ;  many  screamed ;  one  or  two  shrieked ;  while  others 
extended  their  small  hands,  and  bashfully  performed  salams. 
After  this  came  an  oi'der,  from  the  baboo,  as  unexpected  as  it  was 
unprecedented  in  that  family.  It  was  that  all  the  women  of  the 
family,  except  the  widows,  should  now  enter  the  apartment.  Ee- 
ceiving  this  command,  in  their  difierent  rooms,  the  women  inquired 
through  a  messenger  whether  they  were  to  be  seen  by  the  ladies 
only.  The  baboo  imperiously  replied:  "They  must  all  be  pre- 
sented to  Mr.  Seward,  and  receive  him  as  a  friend.  He  is  a  friend 
of  mankind ;  he  shall  see  us  just  as  we  are,  and  see  all  that  we  do 
— we  will  have  no  secrets  from  him."  This  was  intended  as  a 
great  compliment  to  Mr.  Seward. 

There  was  a  sound  of  pattering  feet,  and  a  gentle  rustling  was 
heard.  It  was  followed  by  the  entrance  of  eight  little  women,  all 
of  whom  were  dressed  in  gauze  of  gold  and  various  colors — only 
gleaming  jewels  could  be  seen  through  their  veils.  They  trembled 
like  so  many  aspens  as  they  approached  gracefully,  lifted  their  slen- 
der arms — almost  covered  with  gold — and  extended  to  us  their  little 
nervous  hands.  The  baboo  was  not  yet  content.  He  requested  us 
to  raise  their  veils.  We  did  so  gently,  and  looked  upon  gazelle 
eyes  and  pretty  features,  but  the  wearers  were  so  abashed  that,  in 
tenderness  for  them,  we  soon  let  the  veils  drop.  In  answer  to  our 
compliments,  they  spoke  not  a  word.  The  gentlemen  now  with- 
drew, 

Mr,  Seward  ^was  then  shown  through  seventy-five  rooms,  in- 
cluding a  family  chapel — the  furniture  of  all  very  meagre  and 


356  BPJTISH  INDIA. 

plain,  the  stairs  steep  and  narrow,  and  the  corridors  dark  and 
perplexing. 

The  women,  being  left  alone  with  their  visitors,  now  volun- 
tarily communicated,  through  a  lady  interpreter,  all  the  family 
secrets  :  the  number  of  wives  each  of  the  baboo's  sons  had  married 
and  lost ;  the  number  of  children  of  each  wife  ;  and  the  number 
and  value  of  the  jewels  each  possessed.  The  wife  of  the  eldest  son 
presented  her  daughter — a  bright  and  laughing  maiden  bedecked 
with  jewels — who,  having  attained  the  advanced  age  of  eighteen 
months,  has  already  been  married  to  a  little  gentleman  who  also 
was  present,  and  who  claims  the  experience  of  ten  years.  He  has 
been  elected  to  the  honor  of  this  marriage  because  he  is  the  pre- 
sumptive head  of  the  caste  to  which  this  family  bej"ongs.  Accord- 
ing to  the  custom  of  the  country,  he  has  been  brought  into  the 
family  of  his  bride  to  be  educated.  There  are  eight  pairs  of  such 
prematurely-married  people  in  this  family,  which  consists  of  sev- 
enty-five persons. 

The  windows  of  all  the  chambers  of  the  zenana,  or  harem,  are 
darkened,  and  made  secure  with  iron  bars,  as  in  a  prison.  The 
widows,  even  more  secluded  than  the  wives,  inhabit  the  meanest 
and  dingiest  of  the  chambers.  The  women  showed,  with  perfect 
freedom,  their  sleeping-rooms,  baths,  and  the  contents  of  their 
wardrobes.  Each  woman  has  three  garments.  These  being  woven 
in  the  shape  required,  there  is  no  need  of  mantua-maker  or  milli- 
ner ;  the  only  care  bestowed  on  this  property  is  to  hang  them  up 
and  take  them  down.  The  care  of  the  children  is  devolved  on  the 
ayahs.  As  the  wife  neither  sews,  nor  reads,  nor  writes,  she  has 
absolutely  no  occupation  but  to  talk  with  her  companions  of  the 
zenana  ;  and,  as  might  perhaps  be  expected,  domestic  discords  are 
frequent.  The  guests  (in  the  zenana)  were  then  served  with  cakes, 
comfits,  and  betel-nuts,  the  latter  broken  in  small  bits  and  folded 
in  silver-foil.  The  interview  closed  with  the  same  ceremonies  with 
which  we  had  been  received,  newly  fanning  the  guests  with  pea- 
cocks' plumes,  sprinkling  them  with  rose-water,  and  perfuming  the 
hands  with  the  attar. 

The  baboo,  in  his  conversation  with  Mr.  Seward,  represented 


SWINGIXG  ROUND  THE   CIRCLE.  357 

that  a  general  discontent  with  British  authority  is  felt  by  his  coun- 
trymen, but  he  left  it  quite  clear  that  they  have  not  the  faintest  idea 
of  uprising  or  of  resistance.  Helpless  and  listless,  they  follow  the 
conflicts  of  the  Western  nations,  only  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining 
a  hope — most  unreasonable — that,  amid  the  chances  of  war,  India 
will  receive  a  new  conqueror,  either  the  United  States  or  Russia. 
Mr.  Seward  left  the  baboo  without  lending  any  encouragement  to 
these  political  expectations.  He  joined  the  party  in  the  grand  hall 
below,  when  we  were  honored  with  the  ceremonies  twice  before 
described ;  besides,  a  treat  of  champagne,  ice,  coffee,  and  the  hooTtah. 
The  younger  boys  of  the  family  now  fell  upon  the  lioor  and  kissed 
our  feet ;  with  their  fathers,  they  attended  us  to  the  gates,  and 
then  dismissed  us  with  such  a  shower  of  compliments  and  thanks 
as  convinced  us  that  even  the  Spanish  language  of  courtesy  is 
stinted  and  cold  compared  with  Oriental  flattery.  If  we  are  to 
believe  them,  "  they  still  weep  for  our  return."  Eight  bearers 
came  after  us  bringing  a  tray  filled  with  confectionery. 

Government  House,  March  Ith. — We  took  up  our  residence 
here  to-day.  Although  the  distance  from  Mr.  McAllister's  house 
is  short,  the  journey  was  long,  and  not  made  without  some  diffi- 
culty. "VTe  had  appointed  to  be  here  at  five  o'clock,  and,  under 
viceregal  leave,  had  directed  the  Bengalese  coachman  to  come  for 
us  a  little  before  that  hour.  He  had,  however,  become  accustomed 
to  our  daily  habit  of  driving  about  the  city,  and  did  not  understand 
our  command  to  bring  us  here.  He  drove  us  up  and  down  the 
strand,  around  the  gardens,  and  through  the  city.  Aware  of  his 
mistake,  we,  from  time  to  time,  enjoined  upon  him  our  commands — 
at  last  our  entreaties — to  drive  directly  to  Government  House.  He 
changed  his  course  every  time,  but  only  to  drive  in  some  new  circle 
around  the  palace.  We  appealed  in  vain  from  the  coachman  to  the 
footman  and  to  the  postilions.  But,  all  being  Bengalese,  they  un- 
derstood not  a  word,  and  so  we  went  on,  "  swinging  "  faster  and 
faster  "  around  the  circle."  By  a  fortunate  circumstance,  we  met 
Mr.  Jacobs,  who,  addressing  the  coachman  in  his  own  vernacular, 
made  him  understand  that  it  was  the  centre  of  the  great  circle  that 


358  BRITISH  IKDIA. 

we  desired  to  penetrate.  An  hour  and  a  half  having  been  spent 
in  these  gyrations,  we  found  at  the  door  of  Government  House, 
not  Major  Burne  (^^^lio  was  to  receive  us),  but  a  servant,  charged  to 
conduct  us  to  our  apartments,  and  to  explain  that  the  secretary, 
having  waited  until  six  o'clock,  had  gone  to  fulfil  another  engage- 
ment. 

Government  House,  which  was  built  during  the  administration 
of  the  Marquis  of  Wellesley,  has  dimensions  jjerhaps  one-fourth 
less  than  the  Capitol  at  Washington.  It  is  enclosed,  with  its  gar- 
dens, by  a  high  iron  balustrade.  Its  walls  are  brick,  covered  with 
stucco ;  the  style,  Italian.  The  arrangements  and  embellishments 
are  English,  and  display  that  peculiar  patriotic  pride  which  seems 
to  be  of  the  same  nature  as  the  family  pride  of  a  distant  or  poor 
relation  in  social  life.  We  almost  imagine  ourselves  British  colo- 
nists, living  in  the  days  of  our  ancestors,  before  the  American 
Revolution.  The  noble,  arched  gateway  is  ornamented  with  no 
such  modern  and  republican  symbol  as  the  "  bird  of  freedom," 
with  arrows  and  olive-branch  in  its  claws.  Nor  does  cornice  or 
architrave  present  any  such  mysterious  legend  as  ^^  E  pluribus 
unumP  Nor  does  tower  or  turret  show  any  stars  or  stripes,  or 
any  modern  tricolored  ensign.  Instead  of  all  these,  there  are  a  lion 
and  a  unicorn  over  the  gateway,  and  they  are  as  usual  "  a-fighting 
for  the  crown,"  bearing  on  their  necks  the  scroll  with  the  daring 
words  ^'- Dieu  et  mon  droitP  The  stately  cross  of  St.  George 
flaunts  from  the  palace-walls.  Marquees  and  tents  cover  the  plain, 
surmounted  with  the  same  flag ;  and  officers,  soldiers,  and  ser- 
vants, all  are  clothed  in  the  gorgeous  scarlet-and-gold  uniform 
which  betokens  British  royal  authority.  A  great  gilded  chair  and 
canopy,  at  the  upper  end  of  a  great  hall,  give  it  the  ambitious 
name  of  "  Throne-Room."  The  walls  are  covered  with  British 
portraits — prominent  among  them  those  of  the  obstinate  George 
III.  and  Charlotte  his  faithful  queen  ;  the  Earl  of  Chatham  and 
General  Wolfe,  Lord  North,  Lord  Cornwallis,  General  Burgoyne, 
Lord  Clive,  and  Warren  Hastings.  The  ceremonies  and  etiquette 
of  this  palace  are  copied  from  those  of  Buckingham  Palace.  The 
person,  stranger  or  otherwise,  who  desires  or  claims  notice  at  court, 


TEOPICAL  BIRDS.  359 

instead  of  presenting  letters  or  leaving  cards,  registers  his  name  in 
the  adjutant's  book.  If  recognized,  he  is  honored  with  audience  ; 
if  not,  nothing  is  said.  In  the  morning  a  list  of  the  invited  guests 
is  submitted  to  each  member  of  the  family,  and  each  guest  residing 
in  the  family,  and  he  answers  whether  he  dines  with  the  party  or 
in  private,  or  dines  out.  When  the  dinner-hour  arrives,  and  the 
guests  are  assembled  in  the  throne-room  standing,  the  viceroy  and 
the  Countess  of  Mayo  enter,  each  attended  by  an  aide-de-camp,  and 
salute  their  guests  individually.  The  band  plays  during  the  din- 
ner ;  conversation  at  the  table  is  subdued.  Before  the  end,  the 
viceroy  rises — and  with  him  the  whole  party — and  he  proposes,  in 
a  loud  voice,  the  only  sentiment  of  the  evening:  "The  Queen." 
Then  follows  conversation,  with  amateur  music,  in  the  drawing- 
room  ;  at  the  end  of  whicl^  the  viceregal  hosts  take  leave  of  the 
party  individually  and  retire. 

We  are  never  able  to  forget,  in-doors  or  out,  that  we  are  in  the 
tropics.  The  adjutant-bird,  formal  and  pensive,  stands  sentinel 
over  the  great  gate.  Eesting  on  one  leg,  with  his  knowing  head 
under  his  wing,  he  often  sleeps  on  his  post.  Immense  ravens,  with 
drab  collars  and  caps,  are  walking  before  and  behind  you  on  the 
piazzas.  Parrots,  in  variegated  costumes  of  green,  gold,  and  scar- 
let, fill  the  trees ;  martins,  in  jet-black  coats ;  and  swallows,  plain 
and  brown  ;  twittering  wrens,  and  thousands  of  slender  minos,  in- 
habit the  cornices  and  capitals.  Not  unfrequently  the  birds  per- 
sist, against  all  housewifely  care  and  resistance,  in  building  their 
nests  in  "  coignes  of  vantage  "  found  within  the  walls  ;  sometimes 
in  the  curtain-tenters  ;  sometimes  on  the  tops  of  or  behind  picture- 
frames.  In  the  evening,  we  find  the  veranda-floor  in  front  of  our 
apartments  strewed  with  dry  branches  and  twigs,  which  the  bird- 
builders  have  deposited  there  in  mass  for  further  use.  The  next 
day  the  unwearied  architects  take  up  the  material  and  bear  it  to 
its  appointed  place  on  shelf  or  cornice.  The  raven  is  especially  a 
thief:  flying  in  at  the  windows,  he  carries  away  any  minute,  bright 
article  or  ornament  left  exposed.  The  steward  assured  us  that  the 
birds  have  borrowed  this  naughty  practice  from  the  native  servants, 
who,  he  alleges,  are  universally  addicted  to  petty  larceny. 


CHAPTER    lY. 

CALCUTTA    {Continued). 

The  Maharajah  of  Putteeala. — Oriental  Magnificence. — Kali  Ghaut. — The  Temple. — Hin- 
doo Idols. — Kali. — Siva. — A  Mohammedan  Mosque. — The  Reading  of  the  Budget. — 
Indian  Finances. — The  King  of  Oude. — The  Prince  of  Oude. 

March  ^th. — The  fashionable  promenade  of  Calcutta  is  the  pub- 
lic garden,  which  is  named  Eden.  The  name,  however,  is  not  bor- 
rowed from  paradise,  as  might  be  supposed,  but  was  bestowed  in 
compliment  to  the  Hon.  Miss  Eden,  the  accomplished  sister  of  Earl 
Godolphin  Osborne,  a  former  governor-general.  We  visited  this 
garden  yesterday  with  Lady  Mayo,  at  sunset,  for  evening  begins  at 
sunset  here.  Brilliant  gas-lights  sparkling  tlirough  the  dark  foliage 
of  mango,  palm,  and  cypress  trees,  with  music  from  a  central 
stand  beneath  them,  lent  their  strong  attractions.  It  was  a  gay 
scene.  We  walked  on  the  green  lawns,  and  for  an  hour  listened  to 
the  music,  surrounded  by  beautiful  English  ladies  dressed  from 
boxes  just  out  from  London  and  Paris ;  happy  children  glad  of 
release  from  confinement  of  nurses  and  school-room,  chasing  each 
other  over  the  lawns ;  army-officers  in  full-dress  for  dinner  or  the 
opera ;  stately  baboos  in  white  cambric ;  dusky  Sepoy  guards 
in  white-and-red  uniforms;  rajahs  in  jewelled  turbans  and  gold- 
embroidered  robes ;  and,  in  the  back-ground,  parsees,  in  their  fun- 
nel hats,  were  seen  in  earnest  converse.  Mohammedans  on  their 
knees,  with  faces  toward  Mecca,  were  repeating  their  prayers.  His 
highness  the  Maharajah  of  Putteeala,  of  Northern  India,  was  one 


THE     MAHARAJAH    OF    PUTTEEALA, 
Grand  Commander  of  the  Star  of  India. 


THE  MAHARAJAH'S  CONCERT.  361 

of  the  immediate  circle  around  Lady  Mayo.  His  family  is  distin- 
guished for  loyalty  to  the  British  Government.  His  father  rendered 
good  service  during  the  mutiny.  For  these  considerations,  he  has 
recently  been  invested  in  great  pomp  with  the  order  of  the  Star  of 
India.  In  acknowledgment  of  that  high  distinction,  he  gives  to- 
night a  concert  to  Lord  and  Lady  Mayo.  He  is  a  very  athletic 
man,  appearing  to  be  thirty  years  old,  but  is,  in  fact,  only  twenty 
years.  He  speaks  English  imperfectly,  and  seems  to  have  but  a 
limited  education.  Mr.  Seward  asked  him  what  were  the  produc- 
tions of  his  estates  ?  The  maharajah  answered :  "  I  am  not  like 
the  people  you  see  here  in  Calcutta.  I  am  a  prince.  I  have  many 
zemindars.  I  have  power.  I  can  hang  the  man  if  I  like,  and  I 
can  send  anybody  to  jail  for  all  his  life." 

The  "  Star  of  India  "  is  an  order  of  knighthood  which  was  pro- 
jected by  Prince  Albert,  into  which  British  subjects  and  natives 
of  India  are  alike  elected,  on  the  ground  of  distinguished  service  to 
tlie  British  nation  in  India.  They  say  that  Prince  Albert  was 
perplexed  to  find  a  motto  which  should  be  equally  inoffensive  to 
Christians  and  heathens.  He  happily  chose  this  :  "  Heaven's  light 
our  guide." 

March  10th. — The  maharajah's  concert  was  given  in  a  style  of 
Oriental  magnificence  at  the  town-hall,  before  an  audience  of  twelve 
hundred,  all  of  whom  the  prince  had  invited.  An  illuminated 
arch  was  raised  above  the  porch  of  the  building,  and  above  it 
blazed  the  "  Star  of  India,"  with  all  the  effect  which  gas-jets  and 
reflectors  of  burnished  silver  could  produce.  The  vaulted  roof  of 
the  building  is  supported  by  double  rows  of  white  Corinthian  col- 
umns with  corresponding  pilasters.  The  ceiling  and  walls  were 
painted  in  delicate  green ;  groups  of  rose-colored  lamps  were  sus- 
pended between  the  columns  and  pilasters,  and  the  nave  was  light- 
ed with  transparencies  designed  to  illustrate  the  greatness  and 
glory  of  Britain.  The  splendid  combination  of  light  and  color 
brought  out  in  full  relief  the  garlands  and  festoons  of  flowers  which 
burdened  the  air  with  perfume.  Sofas  were  arranged  so  as  to 
afford  the  guests  full  freedom  of  promenade  and  conversation  in 


362  BKITISH  INDIA. 

the  intervals  of  the  music.  The  maharajah,  with  royal  munifi- 
cence, brought  the  entire  operatic  troupe  upon  the  stage,  while 
independent  bands  of  music  were  stationed  at  all  the  approaches 
of  the  edifice.  The  turbaned  and  decorated  prince  appeared  in  his 
own  proper  regalia  of  gold  and  jewels,  realizing  the  highest  descrip- 
tions we  have  ever  read  of  Eastern  gorgeousness.  He  wore  not 
only  rings  without  number  on  his  fingers,  a  golden  girdle  at  his 
waist,  necklaces  of  jewels,  and  "  ropes  of  pearls  "  on  his  breast,  but 
also  a  blue-and-gold  satin  robe,  which  was  broidered  to  the  depth 
of  six  inches  with  a  solid  mass  of  glittering  precious  stones.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  the  musical  performance  was  very  good,  yet  it 
was  the  ostentatious  display  which  attended  it  that  was  the  wonder 
of  Calcutta  that  night. 

We  went  to-day  in  search  of  Kali  Ghaut.  It  is  the  most  famous 
of  the  Hindoo  temples  here,  and  from  it  the  city  derives  its  name. 
We  found  it  in  a  base  subm-b.  It  has  three  disconnected  struct- 
ures, which,  although  they  are  built  after  the  customary  models, 
and  of  solid  materials,  seem  nevertheless  mean,  when  seen  with 
their  vulgar  surroundings.  The  floors  of  all  are  on  one  level,  eight 
feet  above  the  ground,  and  are  reached  by  stone  steps.  The  build- 
ing on  the  right  hand  is  a  circular  one  about  fifteen  feet  high 
above  the  floor,  open  all  around,  with  a  roof  supported  by  Hindoo 
columns.  The  central  buildincj  is  an  oblong;  one.  The  third  and 
principal  edifice  is  a  square  surmounted  by  a  dome,  which  ex- 
tends beyond  the  walls,  and  is  supported  by  outside  columns.  It 
has  no  windows  ;  light  is  admitted  through  small  doors  on  three 
sides.  The  building  first  described  is  the  hall  of  sacrifice,  into 
which  only  Bramin  priests  are  admitted.  The  building  last  de-^ 
scribed  contains  the  shrine  of  the  goddess  Kali,  to  whose  service  the 
Thugs  especially  devoted  themselves.  Kot  even  its  threshold  must 
be  profaned  by  the  footstep  of  the  \Tilgar.  The  central  edifice  is 
the  worshippers',  from  which  they  pay  their  adoration  to  the  divin- 
ity on  the  right  hand,  and  on  the  other  witness  the  sacrifices.  A 
Bramin  crowd  dressed  in  clean  white,  many  of  them  speaking  un- 
commonly good  English,  were  assiduous,  though  not  obtrusive,  in 
explaining  the  mysteries  to  us.     As  we  went  through  the  grounds. 


HINDOO   TEMPLES.  363 

a  native  police  sprang  forth  at  every  turn  to  protect  ns  against  any 
injury  or  offence.  We  waited  an  hour  for  the  priest  who  had  the 
keys.  He  came  at  last,  arrayed  in  pure  white — a  tall  man  and  dig- 
nified, in  every  way  seeming  worthy  to  serve  at  the  altar.  With 
much  labor,  he  unfastened  a  massive  padlock,  and,  turning  its 
heavy  bolts  backward,  threw  open  a  door  on  either  side  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, and  disclosed  to  us  through  the  dim  light  a  wrought-iron  or 
stone  figure,  of  human  proportions  but  scarcely  of  human  shape. 
The  idol  is  black,  has  three  glaring  red  eyes,  a  broad  golden  tongue 
tipped  with  black,  which  projects  from  a  distended  mouth  down  to 
the  waist,  and  is  dripping  with  blood.  The  arms  are  large.  The 
left  hand  holds  a  giant's  head  ;  the  right  hand,  a  sword  with  which 
it  has  been  severed — both  crimsoned  with  blood.  A  necklace  of 
infants'  skulls  graces  the  demon.  Devout  worshippers  prostrated 
themselves  around  us,  and  something  like  mumbled  prayers  were 
heard  as  they  beat  their  heads  upon  the  pavement.  We  placed 
some  rupees  in  a  vessel  before  us ;  these  were  thrown  at  the  feet 
of  Kali,  and  the  doors  were  quickly  closed.  This  savage  deity 
called  Kali  is  the  wife  of  Siva,  and  is  the  author  of  all  the  evils 
which  beset  the  human  race.  Bullocks  and  goats  are  sacrificed. 
Fire  purifies  the  latter,  and  the  offering  is  eaten  by  the  priests ; 
the  former,  incapable  of  purification,  are  charitably  given  to  pari- 
ahs. The  ground  around  the  hall  of  sacrifice  is  rank  with  the  odor 
of  putrefaction.  One  hundred  and  fifty  Bramins  and  their  families 
live  in  and  about  this  temple.  They  seem  to  be  supported  by  con- 
tributions of  pilgrims,  and  by  deprecatory  offerings  of  merchants 
who  are  engaging  in  business  enterprises. 

We  went  from  the  Kali  Ghaut  to  a  temple  which  is  dedicated 
to  Siva.  The  divinity  here  is  a  black  spherical  stone,  ten  inches 
in  diameter,  set  on  a  concave  stone  of  lighter  color,  in  the  centre 
of  the  pavement.  The  temple  was  too  sacred  to  be  desecrated 
by  oiir  feet.  We  were  allowed  only  to  look  upon  it  through  the 
open  door.  The  attending  priest  threw  the  rupees  upon  the  stone 
god. 

Walking  from  one  temple  to  the  other,  we  passed  numerous 
idols.     Some  represent  Juggernaut  with  a  human  face  elongated 


364  BRITISH  INDIA. 

into  an  elephant's  trunk.  Others  represent  Yishnii;  others,  of 
grotesque  shape,  represent  the  children  of  Siva  and  Kali.  If  we 
were  asked  which  one  of  the  Oriental  superstitions  seems  to  us  the 
most  absurd,  we  should  say  it  is  that  of  the  hideous  Kali,  the  un- 
meaning Siva,  and  their  misshapen  offspring. 

We  noticed  that  the  Bramin  attendants  here  value  a  god,  not  so 
much  for  his  character,  as  for  the  costliness  of  the  material  of  which 
he  is  made.  They  represented  to  us  that  it  was  not  worth  our 
while  to  visit  Siva  at  all,  because  temple  and  idol  are  cheap  and 
mean  ;  nor  did  they  conceal  their  disrespect  for  the  dingy  elephan- 
tine children  of  Kali  and  Siva,  but  they  expressed  the  profoundest 
awe  and  reverence  for  golden  Kali. 

Returning  to  the  city,  we  paused  to  admire  a  beautiful  white 
marble  memorial-mosque,  which  has  minarets  at  the  angles,  but  no 
central  dome.  The  muezzin  was  solemnly  calling  the  faithful  to 
evening-prayer.  The  porch  was  covered  with  the  sandals  of  the 
worshippers,  who  had  already  entered  the  courts,  which  we  were 
forbidden  to  profane.  Is  it  strange  that  this  Mohammedan  struct- 
ure and  worship,  simple  and  severe,  impressed  us  with  sentiments 
of  respect  and  even  devotion,  when  thus  seen  in  immediate  contrast 
with  the  temples  of  the  base  Hindoo  idols  ? 

The  memory  which  lingers  here  of  the  "  Black  Hole,"  the  sub- 
limest  horror  in  the  history  of  India,  is  very  faint.  "With  the  aid 
of  an  antiquarian,  we  found  the  site  enclosed  within  the  area  of  the 
Post-office. 

March  10th. — The  reading  of  the  "Budget"  is  here,  as  it  is  in 
England,  the  great  political  transaction  of  the  year.  It  took  place 
to-day,  in  the  marble  hall  of  Government  House,  in  the  presence 
of  a  considerable  assemblage.  Mr.  Seward  was  honored  with  a 
privileged  seat.  The  arrangement  of  the  council-chamber  was  not 
unlike  that  of  the  cabinet  council  at  the  White  House,  except  that 
the  viceroy's  seat  is  raised  on  the  dais.  The  exposition  of  the 
finances,  by  Sir  Richard  Temple,  was  a  lucid  and  elaborate  perform- 
ance, but  it  wanted  the  tone  of  calm  dignity  which  distinguishes 
the  speeches  of  the  British  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  or  the 


INDIAN  FINANCES.  365 

report  of  the  United  States  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  The  defer- 
ence toward  home  rule,  which  was  manifested  in  every  paragraph, 
was  in  strong  contrast  with  the  independent  spirit  of  legislation  on 
financial  questions  in  the  American  colonies  before  our  Revolution. 
In  India,  no  councillor,  nor  any  subject,  questions  the  omnipotence 
of  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain.  The  debt  of  British  India  (in 
round  numbers)  is  one  hundred  million  pounds  sterling — five  times 
greater  than  the  national  debt  of  the  United  States  before  our  civil 
war,  and  about  one-fourth  as  large  as  the  debt  is  at  the  present  time. 
The  revenue  is  about  fifty  million  pounds  sterling.  Only  an  in- 
significant part  is  derived  from  customs,  it  being  the  policy  of  the 
Home  Government  to  encourage  the  consumption  of  British  manu- 
factures in  the  colonies.  Eight  million  pounds  sterling  (net)  is 
obtained  from  the  culture  and  sale  of  opium,  on  which  drug  the 
Government  makes  an  actual  profit  of  one  hundred  per  cent.  Salt 
monopoly  brings  in  five  million  pounds;  a  land-tax  imposes  the 
severe  exaction  of  one  and  a  quarter  per  cent,  on  valuation.  None 
of  these  revenues  excite  as  much  discontent  as  the  tax  of  two  and  a 
half  per  cent,  on  incomes,  which  is  equally  obnoxious  to  British 
residents  and  native  zemindars.  That  tax  must  be  abandoned, 
even  at  the  cost  of  redaction  of  the  military  expenses.  Railroad 
enterprise  in  India  is  worthy  of  all  admiration ;  although  it  was 
begun  only  twenty  years  ago,  there  are  now  five  thousand  miles  of 
completed  roads,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  are  added  an- 
nually. The  Government  guarantees  an  income  of  five  per  cent, 
on  the  capital  invested  in  railroads.  They  make  a  return  thus  far 
of  only  two  and  one-half  per  cent.  When  we  consider  the  vast 
population  and  resources  of  India,  there  seems  no  reason  to  sup- 
pose that  railroads  will  be  less  productive  than  in  Europe  and  the 
United  States. 

After  the  council,  the  members  asked  Mr.  Seward  whether  his 
financial  experience  enabled  him  to  make  any  suggestion  for  the 
•  removal  of  the  difiiculties  arising  out  of  the  income-tax  and  the 
railroad  subsidies.  He  answered  :  "  Your  railroads  will  increase 
the  demand  for  foreign  manufactures,  an  increase  of  customs  will 
enable  you  to  dispense  with  the  income-tax ;  the  railroads,  more- 

28 


366  BRITISH  INDIA. 

over,  will  enable  you  to  reduce  your  army  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  Sepoys,  and  yom*  seventy-five  thousand  European  troops, 
to  much  smaller  figures.  Having  made  these  economies,  you  will 
then  be  ready  to  admit  the  natives  to  a  limited  representation  in 
the  provincial  councils." 

All  the  members  of  the  Government,  natives  as  well  as  foreign- 
ers, are  fitly-chosen,  intelligent,  able  men.  Mr.  Seward  pronounces 
Earl  Mayo  the  "  hardest  worker  "  as  well  as  the  most  sagacious  of 
them  all. 

March  Wth. — The  majestic  declamations  of  Burke,  in  the  trial 
.  of  Warren  Hastings,  have  made  the  civilized  world '  familiar  with 
the  tragic  story  of  the  kingdom  of  Oude.  "We  may,  hereafter,  have 
occasion  to  speak,  not  of  the  kingdom,  but  of  the  king.  The  last 
descendant  of  the  native  king,  who  reigned  at  Lucknow  under  the 
British  protectorate,  joined  the  mutiny  in  1857.  On  its  suppres- 
sion, he  was  deprived  of  the  kingdom,  but  w^as  allowed  to  retain  his 
sovereign  rank  with  a  munificent  pension,  though  obliged  to  reside 
in  Calcutta,  under  government  surveillance.  Yesterday,  we  re- 
paired to  his  palace  on  the  bank  of  the  Hoogly,  in  compliance  with 
his  invitation.  The  royal  residence  consists  of  twelve  stately  edi- 
fices with  colonnades,  which  accommodate  retainers,  servants,  and 
soldiery,  numbering  in  all  ten  thousand.  A  regiment  of  native 
troops  gave  Mr.  Seward  a  salute  at  the  grand  gate,  and  we  were 
received  at  the  palace  by  the  king's  eldest  son,  the  heir-apparent, 
who  announced  that  his  father,  being  very  ill,  had  deputed  him  to 
be  his  representative  on  the  occasion  of  our  visit.  "We  have  never 
seen  a  handsomer  youth,  although  he  is  swarthy.  Dressed  fully  up 
to  his  character,  he  wore  flowing  robes  of  blue  velvet,  embroidered 
with  gold,  and  his  princely  jewelled  coronet.  The  titular  King  of 
Oude  is  probably  the  only  monarch  in  the  world  who  wears  such 
antiquated  head-gear  as  this.  Doubtless,  however,  it  is  a  pleasing 
reminder  of  the  palmy  state  from  which  he  has  "fallen,  fallen, 
fallen." 

The  prince,  in  a  most  amiable  and  communicative  temper,  con- 
ducted us  through  the  extensive  flower-gardens,  immense  mena- 


w 

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KING  OF   OUDE'S   MENAGERIE.       '  367 

geries,  as  well  as  aviaries  and  aquariums,  neither  of  wliich,  we  ima- 
gine, have  their  equal  in  any  part  of  the  world.  An  account  of  the 
animals  exhibited  would  be  little  less  than  a  "  catalogue."  We  saw 
huge  boa-constrictors  sleeping  in  their  cages.  The  snake-charmer 
skilfully  di'ew  the  cobra  de  capello  from  its  prison,  stretched  it  on 
the  ground,  and  then  with  great  dexterity  seized  it  by  the  throat, 
and  at  pleasure  made  it  open  its  mouth  and  show  the  strong,  sharp, 
white  fang,  whose  stroke  is  instant  death,  and  beneath  it  the  small 
sac  in  which  the  fatal  venom  is  secreted.  The  ostrich,  the  bird- 
of-paradise,  the  pelican,  the  flamingo,  the  eagle,  and  the  swan,  are 
as  domesticated  as  if  they  had  known  no  other  home.  We  counted 
one  hundred  species  of  the  pigeon,  nor  can  we  recall  the  name  of 
any  tenant  of  the  air  which  is  not  represented  there.  The  aqua- 
riums are  lakes,  each  covering  an  acre,  and  ten  feet  deep.  Their 
inhabitants  of  all  kinds  came  to  be  fed  from  our  hands.  An  im- 
mense green  tortoise  was  tempted  to  the  shore  by  a  bunch  of 
bananas,  and  walked  back  seeming  not  at  all  oppressed  by  the  bur- 
den of  an  attendant,  who  stood  on  his  back,  and  who  weighs  nearly 
two  hundred  pounds.  The  English  people  here  tell  us  that  the 
munificent  King  of  Oude  is  treacherous,  and  that  his  handsome  son 
is  graceless.     But  when  has  conqueror  confided  in  his  prisoner  ? 

The  viceroy  has  gone  into  the  country  for  his  customary  weekly 
relaxation  of  boar-hunting.  We  drive  with  Lady  Mayo  and  a  com- 
pany of  ladies  and  gentlemen,  this  evening,  to  Barrackpore. 


CHAPTER  y. 

BARRACKPORE  AND   SERAMPORE. 

Barrackpore  Park  and  its  Beauties. — Magnificent  Trees. — The  Menagerie. — The  Lion- 
Whelps. — Serampore. — Its  Missionaries  and  Mission-Schools. — Return  from  Bar- 
rackpore.— Fort  William. — The  Woman's  Union  Missionary  Society  and  its  Schools. 

Barrackpore  Park,  March  iWi. — This  viceregal  country  resi- 
dence stands  on  a  curve  of  the  Hoogly,  sixteen  miles  north  of  Cal- 
cutta. Besides  the  palace,  there  is  also  a  large  military  station. 
On  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river  is  Serampore,  originally  a  Danish 
possession,  but  now  British,  and  incorporated  with  Barrackpore. 

It  is  a  relief  to  escape  for  a  day  from  the  sights  and  excitements 
of  the  capital.  Vegetation  is  so  luxuriant  in  India  that  wild  beasts 
maintain  their  natural  liberty  in  the  midst  of  the  densest  human 
population.  Just  as  the  morning  dawned  the  shrieks  of  these 
vicious  beasts  ceased,  and  the  notes  of  the  whippoorwill  came  in 
their  place,  as  distinct  and  as  piteous  as  when  heard  on  the  banks 
of  the  Potomac.  But  we  are  before  our  story.  The  hall  in  which 
we  were  received  last  night  was  far  more  magnificent  than  any  wc 
had  ever  before  entered.  Its  circumference  one  thousand  feet,  its 
floor  a  green  lawn,  its  roof  the  dense,  dark  fern-like  foliage  of  the 
banyan-tree,  its  brown  columns  and  arches,  the  trunks  which  have 
grown  from  the  tendrils  that  dropped  from  the  parent  tree,  and 
took  root  in  the  ground.  Only  Virgil  could  celebrate  so  magnifi- 
cent a  shade : 

"  Tityre  tu  patulas  recubans  sub  tegmine  fagi." 


SERAMPORE  MISSIONS.  3G9 

Of  course,  there  is  a  menagerie,  thougli  it  is  a  small  one,  at- 
taclied  to  the  palace.  The  Bengal  tiger,  the  noblest  of  the  feline 
race,  is  shown  here  with  special  pride.  We  saw  a  superb  fellow, 
which,  now  fully  grown  and  quite  savage,  was  one  year  ago  a  pet 
kitten  in  the  nursery.  AYe  have  renewed  here  the  pleasant  ac- 
quaintances which  we  formed  with  the  lion-whelps  who  were  our 
fellow-passengers  on  the  Australian.  They  are  very  restless  in 
their  new  quarters.  AVe  find  a  novelty  far  more  interesting  than 
the  menagerie.  It  is  a  troop  of  wild  jackals,  which  make  the 
"  night  hideous  "  with  their  bowlings.  For  hours,  we  thought  that 
the  noise  they  made  was  that  of  an  insurrection  or  a  riot. 

On  the  invitation  of  the  editor  of  The  Friend  of  India^  we 
crossed  the  river  this  morning  and  visited  Serampore.  It  is  well 
known  in  the  United  States  as  the  place  where  the  three  devoted 
missionaries,  Marshman,  Carey,  and  Ward,  founded  the  first  Ameri- 
can mission  in  India.  They  chose  the  site  because  it  was  then 
under  the  friendly  flag  of  Denmark,  while  the  regulations  of  the 
British  East  India  Company  forbade  Christian  missions  within  its 
jurisdiction.  Serampore  is  also  the  scene  of  the  first  labors  of  the 
pious  and  indefatigable  Judson.  The  scientific  institutions  as  well 
as  the  press  and  libraries  which  the  earnest  men,  whom  we  have 
mentioned,  established,  are  still  flourishing,  while  the  very  air  of 
the  quaint  place  seems  redolent  of  their  memories.  After  a  pleas- 
ant collation,  we  examined  these  institutions.  The  missionaries 
educate  one  hundred  and  fifty  children  here  in  reading,  writing, 
and  arithmetic ;  and  fifty  more  up  to  the  qualifications  for  admis- 
sion into  the  University  of  Calcutta.  Mr.  Seward  asked  what 
became  of  the  youths  who  are  thus  educated  ?  The  missionaries 
answered  that  "the  highest  ambition  of  a  Hindoo  youth  is  a 
place  in  which  he  can  wear  a  'pen  behind  his  ear.'  "  The  young 
men  secure  the  small  places  under  the  Government  which  are  open 
to  natives.     Very  few  of  them  become  or  remain  Christians. 

0%MarGh  IZth. — "We  returned  from  Barraekpore  this  morning, 
WTch  Lady  Mayo  and  a  party  of  twelve,  in  the  "  drag,"  drawn  by 
six  horses,  directed  by  their  postilions,  and  attended  by  a  mounted 


370  BRITISH  INDIA. 

escort.  The  roads  were  fine,  tlie  morning  exhilarating.  "We 
passed  an  elephant  bearing  a  load  of  hay,  the  first  of  those  animals 
we  have  seen  in  service.  Mr.  Seward  passed  the  morning  in  a 
survey  of  Fort  William.  Built  as  a  defence  for  the  first  British 
factory  in  Calcutta,  and  identified  with  all  the  great  events  in  the 
history  of  the  conquest,  it  still  gives  the  ofiicial  name  to  the  seat  of 
the  government.  But  Fort  William,  and  all  that  Mr.  Seward  saw 
in  it,  belongs  to  the  past.  In  his  absence  the  ladies  enjoyed  the 
pleasure  of  studying  a  more  modern  and  useful  institution. 

It  is  the  proud  distinction  of  the  United  States  that  our  coun- 
trywomen have  designed  and  brought  into  execution  a  practical 
plan  for  the  amelioration  of  society  in  India.  Caste,  in  that  coun- 
try, has  its  moral  and  civil  as  well  as  its  theological  code.  Its  laws 
are  paramount  to  all  laws  and  all  institutions  of  government.  It 
may  be  said  of  caste,  just  as  truly  as  it  was  said  of  the  laws  of 
Moses,  that  "  the  letter  killeth,  the  spirit  glveth  life."  Caste  hin- 
dered and  defeated  two  attempted  reformations  in  India  before  the 
country  became  known  to  Europeans — Buddhism  and  Mohamme- 
danism. It  is  caste,  the  "letter"  of  the  Hindoo  law,  that  hinders 
Christianity,  and  seems  to  render  the  introduction  of  all  Western 
civilization  impossible.  Caste  has  effected  all  these  evils  and  per- 
petuates them  through  the  degradation  of  women.  Christianity 
and  Western  civilization  can  only  be  established  through  the  res- 
toration of  woman  here  as  elsewhere  to  her  just  and  la^vful  sphere. 
This  restoration  is  just  what  "the  Woman's  Union  Missionary 
Society  of  America  for  Heathen  Lands  "  is  doing  through  the  insti- 
tution thev  have  established  at  Calcutta  and  its  branches  in  the 
provinces,  called  the  "  Zenana  Mission."  We  accompanied  Miss 
Brittan,  the  superintendent  of  this  institution,  in  her  visitation  of 
many  of  the  zenanas,  to  which,  by  her  unremitting  zeal,  assiduity, 
and  gentleness,  she  has  gained  access.  These  families  were  gen- 
erally rich,  like  that  of  the  baboo,  which  we  have  described.  Some 
of  them,  however,  are  wretched  and  squalid.  Even  in  these,  the 
women,  like  those  in  the  rich  zenanas,  are  timid,  gentle,  loving 
creatures,  and  all  alike  are  painfully  desirous  of  instruction.  The 
institution  employs  in  Calcutta  twelve  American  women  as  teach- 


BAERACKPOEE. 


371 


ers.  TEey  have  already  instructed  sixty  native  women,  who  liave 
become  assistant  teachers.  They  have  during  the  same  time  estab- 
lished an  asylum  where  they  support  and  train  twenty  additional 
girls  for  teachers.  Miss  Brittan  counts  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
native  women,  who  have  been  taught  and  qualified  to  become  the 
wives  of  Hindoo  youths  who  are  prepared  for  official  employment 
in  the  universities  and  schools  established  by  the  Government.  It 
is  pleasant  to  record  that  this  noblest  of  charities  enjoys  the  entire 
confidence  and  favor  of  Earl  Mayo.' 

'  We  found  on  our  return  to  the  United  States  that  the  "  Woman's  IJpion  Missionary 
Society  of  America ''  had  fully  adopted  the  idea  of  the  importance  of  connecting  the 
knowledge  of  medicine  with  the  qualification  of  teacher. 


BAKKAOKPOKE. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FROM  CALCUTTA    TO  BENARES. 


Courtesy  of  the  East  India  Railway  Company. — Unattractive  Scenery. — The  Scenery 
improves. — Aspect  of  the  Country  and  the  People. — A  stop  at  Patna. — A  Tiger 
Hunter. — The  Cultivation  of  the  Poppy. — The  Maharajah  of  Benares. — A  Night 
on  the  Ganges. — A  Brilliant  Display. — Glory  Hallelujah. — A  Compliment  to  Mr. 
Seward. 


Benares^  March  15th. — We  left  Government  House,  Calcutta, 
on  the  13tli,  in  the  evening,  and,  with  the  aid  of  friends,  made 
our  way  through  a  mixed  and  garrulous  crowd  which  gathered  at 
the  wharf.  We  crossed  the  Hoogly  in  a  capacious  steam  ferry- 
boat, and  took  possession  of  a  car  which  had  been  furnished  us, 
by  the  East  India  Railway  Company,  for  our  exclusive  use  while 
in  the  country.  We  attach  it  to,  or  detach  it  from,  the  train  at 
our  pleasure.  It  consists  of  two  apartments,  with  a  bath-room. 
Our  Calcutta  friends  furnished  us  with  a  full  supply  of  Boston  ice. 

The  niglit  was  dark.  When  we  awoke  in  the  morning,  we 
looked  out  upon  an  unattractive  plain,  broken  by  ledges  of  rocks. 
The  road  was  bordered  Avith  shallow  tanks,  filled  with  muddy  water 
collected  during  the  last  rainy  season,  and  frequent  brick-kilns  built 
to  supply  the  material  for  the  railway  structures.  An  occasional 
herd  of  small  lean  cattle,  sheep,  and  goats,  with  a  tattered  or  naked 
attendant,  was  seen  upon  the  scanty  soil  nearly  covered  with 
stunted  trees  and  shrubs.  A  few  mean  form -houses  and  wretched 
villages  were  visible.     We  thought  India  a  sorry  contrast  to  Japan 


BEAUTY  OF  THE  COUNTRY.  373 

and  Java,  and  even  less  cheerful  than  the  sandy  plain  of  the  dismal 
Pei-ho.  Referring  to  the  map,  we  found  that  we  were  a  hundred 
miles  south  of  the  Ganges,  and  that  the  dreary  region  we  were 
traversing  is  a  spur  of  the  mountain-border  of  the  great  river-basin. 
Scarcely  had  we  time  to  express  our  surprise  at  the  uninviting 
aspect  of  the  country  before  the  rocky  ledges  and  stunted  vegeta- 
tion gave  way  to  scenes  of  fertility  and  beauty — which  continued 
without  interruption  during  the  day.  Endless  fields,  some  yellow 
with  ripening  rice,  some  white  with  the  strewed  leaves  of  the 
poj)py,  and  some  green  with  growing  wheat,  millet,  and  other 
cereals,  alternate  with  orchards  of  bananas,  tamarinds,  and  man- 
goes— the  latter  trees  just  now  blooming  and  filling  the  air  with 
a  perfume  sweet  as  that  of  the  acacia.  The  plantations  are  divided 
by  hedges  of  richly-flowering  cactus.  In  other  fields  are  large 
herds  of  cattle,  and  goats,  and  flocks  of  sheep,  all  fat  and  sleek,  and 
ranging  under  cocoa-nut  trees,  scattered  through  the  landscape 
like  the  oaks  in  Kentucky  and  California.  The  palma-Christi,  a 
hardy,  graceful  shrub,  needing  little  Irrigation,  grows  luxuriantly. 
The  flower-stalk  of  the  "century-plant"  has  already  reached  the 
height  of  ten  feet,  and  is  preparing  to  spread  its  gorgeous  petals  in 
May.  As  we  approached,  we  saw,  in  the  midst  of  this  luxuriance, 
which  surpasses  that  of  the  prairies  of  Java,  winding  rows  of  wil- 
lows, and  occasionally  a  mast  towering  over  them.  Another  curve 
revealed  to  us  the  Ganges. 

The  groups  of  slender  men  and  children  whom  we  passed  by 
the  roadside  and  in  the  fields  were  gayly  and  gracefully  attired. 
So  also  were  the  few  women  whom  we  saw.  They  had  a  great 
profusion  of  silver  ornaments,  ear-rings,  nose-rings,  bracelets  and 
bangles.  All  ISTature  seemed  to  feel  new  animation  and  display 
fresh  beauty  in  the  presence  of  the  Ganges.  Green  parrots  with 
yellow-and-red  heads  perch  on  the  telegra]3h-wirep,  as  swallows  and 
martins  do  in  our  own  country  ;  flocks  of  flamingoes  make  a  rose- 
ate cloud  as  they  fly  over  our  heads;  the  solemn  stork  and  the 
stately  adjutant  march  in  regiments  through  the  copses  and  pre- 
serves around  us. 

We  made  one  stop,  during  the  day,  at  Patna.     It  is  a  large  and 


374  BRITISH   INDIA. 

an  old  Hindoo  citj,  memorable  in  tlie  liistoiy  of  Britisli  conquest 
as  the  scene  of  the  perfidious  covenant  of  the  "  Three  Seals ; "  that 
infamous  transaction  which  aroused  the  people  of  England  from 
their  criminal  lethargy  to  a  contemplation  of  the  atrocities  practised 
by  the  East  India  Company.  While  there,  we  made  a  survey  of 
the  eighteen  cars  which  constituted  our  railway-train.  Only  one 
of  these  was  devoted  to  Europeans,  the  others  were  fully  freighted 
with  natives ;  never  less  than  thirty,  sometimes  fifty,  crowded  into 
a  car.  We  met  there  our  countryman  Mr.  Eldridge,  who  was  just 
returning  to  Calcutta  from  a  famous  tiger-hunt  in  the  north,  in 
which  he  shot  a  tiger  which  had  already  laid  hold  of  the  haunch  of 
the  elephant  he  was  riding.  Patna,  like  all  the  towns  and  villages 
on  our  road,  shows  a  division  of  the  population  between  the  faith 
of  the  Bramins  and  that  of  the  Arabian  prophet.  The  Hindoo 
temple,  although  it  has  a  greater  number  of  worshippers,  is  always 
eclipsed  in  magnificence  by  the  mosque. 

The  government  officer,  charged  with  the  superintendence  of 
the  opium-production,  called  upon  us  at  Patna.  The  opium-poppy 
bears  a  small  white  flower  instead  of  the  large  bright  petals  known 
in  our  gardens.  The  manufacture  is  simple  :  early  in  the  morning, 
an  attendant  (usually  a  woman)  goes  through  the  poppy-field,  strik- 
ing each  capsule  with  an  instrument  of  many  blades  like  a  cupping- 
knife — the  milky-juice  exudes,  dries,  and  blackens,  under  the  burn- 
ing heat  of  the  sun  ;  it  is  gathered  in  the  evening  by  scraping  the 
plant  with  a  knife.  It  is  already  opium.  The  narcotic  strength 
of  the  juice  varies  in  difierent  plants — owing  to  a  diiference  in 
the  vigor  of  the  plant,  or  to  the  circumstances  favorable  or 
unfavorable  to  tlie  extraction  of  the  juice.  Some  plants  yield 
only  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  drug ;  others,  eighty  or  ninety  per  cent. 
The  weak  and  the  strong  products  are  mixed  so  as  to  obtain  a  uni- 
form strength  of  seventy-five  per  cent.  The  liquid  which  remains 
after  the  mixture  is  made  is  again  exposed  to  the  sun.  When  the 
mass,  thus  mixed,  has  obtained  a  consistency  for  manipulation,  it  is 
divided  into  small  portions,  each  of  which  is  enclosed  in  a  single 
mango-leaf.  It  is  then  rolled  by  hand  until  the  leaf  is  entirely  in- 
corporated into  the  mass,  and  the  opium  comes  out  dry  in  the 


MAHARAJAH   OF  BENxVRES. 


375 


sliape  of  a  round  ball.  One  acre  of  poppy  yields  five  pounds  of  the 
opium  of  commerce. 

We  saw  indigo-fields  on  every  side,  but  the  season  for  the  culti- 
vation of  that  plant  is  past. 

Arriving  at  the  station,  Mogul  Serai,  on  the  south  bank  of  the 
Ganges,  we  were  met  by  the  government  commissioner  of  the  dis- 
trict of  Benares.     He  was  charged  by  the  Maharajah  of  Benares  to 


UAEABAJAH  OF  BEKABE3. 


invite  ns  to  an  entertainment  on  the  river  in  honor  of  the  festival 
called  "the  Holy,"  which,  after  having  been  continued  for  several 
days,  was  to  come  to  a  close  that  night.  A  continuous  railroad- 
journey  of  twenty-two  hours,  fatiguing  everywhere,  is  doubly 
severe  here  ;  but  how  could  we  decline  a  compliment  from  so  high 
a  native  source,  or  how  forego  an  occasion  so  novel  and  interesting 
as  a  night  on  the  Ganges  ?  Two  ofificers  of  the  prince's  household, 
bearing  silver  maces  six  feet  long,  with  twenty  servants  in  scarlet 
and  white,  met  us  on  the  river-bank  and  placed  us  in  cushioned 


376  BRITISH   INDIA. 

chairs,  imdcr  a  gay  canopy,  on  the  deck  of  a  graceful  yaclit.  "We 
floated  leisurely  downward  with  the  current.  The  first  part  of  the 
voyage  had  no  special  interest.  The  night  was  dark,  and  the  dim 
lights  around  us  gave  us  only  spectral  glimpses  of  the  terraced 
banks.  When,  however,  we  liad  advanced  a  mile,  we  saw,  on  our 
right,  at  the  river's  edge,  the  blazing,  crackling  flames  of  seeming 
bonfires.  The  portion  of  the  banks  thus  illuminated  seemed  to 
rise  to  the  height  of  a  hundred  feet,  and  were  thickly  crowded  with 
massive  structures ;  and,  over  all  these,  the  gleaming  dome  and 
minarets  of  Aurengzebe,  the  great  mosque  of  the  city.  What  was 
our  surprise  to  find  that  the  fires,  which  we  had  supposed  kindled 
for  a  temporary  illumination,  were  funeral-fires !  Ghauts  are  built 
on  the  banks  for  the  sole  purpose  of  cremation.  The  spectacle 
turned  our  thoughts,  for  the  moment,  upon  the  strange  process  of 
disposing  of  the  remains  of  the  dead.  "What,"  we  inquired,  "is 
done  with  the  ashes  which  reniain  from  the  fires  V  "  They  scatter 
them  on  the  bosom  of  the  sacred  river." 

At  this  point  we  entered  a  crowd  of  brilliantly-illuminated  and 
gayly-decorated  barges,  so  dense  that  it  was  not  without  difiiculty 
that  we  made  our  way  through  it  to  the  station  assigned  us,  near 
the  maharajah's  barge,  from  which  a  calcium-light  flashed  an  in- 
tense and  dazzling  splendor  over  the  entire  city.  On  either  side  of 
this  magnificent  barge  was  another  one,  equally  gorgeous ;  the  one 
containing  the  Maharajah  of  Yisianagram,  the  other,  the  Maharajah 
of  Puttceala.  These  dignitaries  were  guests.  The  barges  of  the 
three  princes  were  lashed  together,  and  a  grand  Oriental  pavilion 
extended  over  them.  All  the  optical  eff'eet  that  can  be  obtained 
by  fanciful  naval  designs,  brilliant  light,  and  variegated  drapery, 
by  moving  crowds  and  splendid  costumes,  reflected  by  mirrors, 
crystals,  and  gold,  was  produced  here ;  while  the  senses  were  rav- 
ished by  the  perfume  of  burning  incense  and  tropical  flowers. 
Though  dazzled  by  cross-lights,  and  bewildered  by  the  indescriba- 
ble glitter,  we  passed,  under  safe  guidance,  from  our  own  barge  to 
that  of  the  Maharajah  of  Benares.  Under  the  same  conduct  we 
passed  through  successive  chambers,  each  varying  in  enchantment 
from  the  others,  until  we  reached  the  curtained  and  festooned  cen- 


GLORY   HALLELUJAH. 


377 


tral  saloon,  appropriated  to  guests.  Here  rose-water  and  neroli 
gushed  over  us  from  silver  and  crystal  fountains ;  champagne  and 
sherbets  sparkled  in  golden  vases;  buffets  groaned- with  the  weight 
of  fruits,  confectionery,  and  ices ;  while  beautiful  nautch  girls  in 
gauzy  attire  performed  their  most  sacred  and  celebrated  songs  and 
dances  to  their  strange  music. 

It  may  be  imagined  we  were  filled  with  emotion,  when,  in  an 
interval  of  this  elaborate  Asiatic  exhibition,  the  solemn  measure  of 
*'  Glory  Hallelujah "  from  a  full  European  orchestra  burst  upon 
our  ears.  The  performance  of  this  great  marching-anthem  of  the 
Union  army  in  the  late  war  was  a  thoughtful  recognition,  on  the 
part  of  the  maharajah,  of  Mr.  Seward's  presence.  We  took  leave 
of  our  princely  entertainers  at  twelve  o'clock,  leaving  the  pageant 
of  the  Ganges  to  go  on  during  the  whole  night  for  the  enjoyment 
of  those  who,  unlike  ourselves,  had  strength  enough  to  endure  it. 


MAUTCH  GIEL8. 


CHAPTER  YII. 

BENARES. 

The  Sacred  City  of  the  Hindoos.— The  Cradle  of  Buddhism.— Samath.— Remarkable 
Towers. — The  Holy  River. — The  Ghauts. — Singular  Architecture.— The-  Mosques 
and  their  Minarets. — A  Picturesque  Scene  on  the  River-Bank. — Siva  and  Doorga. — 
Manufacture  of  Idols. — Kincob. — Magnificence  of  Benares. 

March  IQth. — Our  experience  here  in  the  sacred  city  of  the 
Hindoos  is  like  that  of  the  visitor  at  Jerusalem.  There  he  expects 
to  find  most  prominent  the  monuments  of  the  Jews.  Here  we 
expect  to  find  most  prominent  the  monuments  of  the  Hindoos.  At 
Jerusalem,  the  monument  which  first  attracts  attention  is  not  the 
Temple  of  Solomon,  but  the  Mosque  of  Omar ;  and  here,  the  object 
which  first  attracts  our  attention  is  not  a  temple  of  Vishnu,  but, 
Sarnath,  a  suburb  of  the  city,  the  cradle  of  Buddhism.  Buddha, 
according  to  the  traditions,  was  a  prince.  He  renounced  royal 
state,  wealth,  family,  friends,  every  thing,  and  repaired  to  Sarnath. 
Here  in  seclusion,  and  in  the  practice  of  severest  asceticism,  he  con- 
tinued through  five  years ;  and  it  resulted  in  his  conviction  that  he 
had  become  perfectly  incarnate  of  the  Supreme  God  ;  perfectly  puri- 
fied :  the  deleo;ated  savior  of  his  nation  and  of  mankind.  Here, 
his  teachings  began  nearly  twenty-four  hundred  years  ago ;  hence, 
according  to  the  faith  of  his  disciples,  the  light  of  divine  truth, 
which  he  dispenses,  has  radiated  through  the .  East,  until  it  has  ex- 
erted its  saving  influence  over  one-fourth  of  the  human  race,  and  it 
is  to  continue  to  radiate  until  it  shall  pervade  the  earth.  But  the 
fortunes  of  Buddhism  in  the  region  where  it  originated  have-  not 


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THE  BUDDHIST  TOWER. 


379 


been  unlike  those  of  Cliristianity.  While  the  Christian  religion 
is  extended  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  a  foreign  and  hated  worship 
prevails  in  Palestine.  So,  while  Buddha  remains  incarnate,  not  in 
Sarnath,  but  in  Thibet,  and  thence  dispenses  the  divine  truth 
throughout  the  vast  regions  of  Tartary,  China  and  Japan,  Ceylon 
and  the  Oriental  Archipelago,  his  system  has  scarcely  a  foothold  in 
the  province  where  it  originated.  Sarnath  is  eight  miles  distant 
from  Benares.     The  large  plain,  strewed  with  ruins,  is  the  resort 


GKEAT   BITDDHI8T   TOWER   AT  SARNATH. 


of  innumerable  bands  of  pilgrims,  who  cover  its  broken  shrines- 
with  garlands,  and  bedew  its  sands  with  tears.  We  tried,  quite 
ineffectually,  to  learn  the  history  of  the  only  two  monuments  which 
retain  something  of  their  ancient  shape  and  original  proportions. 
One  of  these  is  a  conical  tower,  which  rises  in  the  centre  of  a  well- 
defined  area,  two-thirds  of  a  mile  in  circuit.  The  tower  has  a 
circumference  of  ninety-two  feet  at  the  base,  and  rises  to  a  height 
of  one  hundred  and  ten  feet.     What  is  extraordinary  is,  that  thus- 


380 


BRITISH   INDIA. 


vast  tower  is  solid,  without  chambers  or  internal  passages,  except  a 
low,  subterranean  one.  It  has  a  basement-story,  twenty  feet  high, 
of  solid  brick,  ten  feet  of  which  is  below  the  level  of  the  plain. 
Upon  this  basement  is  a  story,  forty  feet  high,  of  chiselled  Chunar 
stone.  "With,  the  exception  of  the  five  upper  layers,  this  story  is  a 
solid  mass,  each  individual  block  being  fastened  to  the  one  adjoin- 
ing it  by  iron  clamps.  The  part  of  the  tower  which  is  above  the 
stone  story,  last  mentioned,  is  built  entirely  of  large  bricks.  Origi- 
nally, it  had  a  veneering  or  outer  covering,  but  it  is  difficult  to 
ascertain  whether  it  was  of  stone,  stucco,  or  cement.  The  apex  of 
the  structure,  ten  feet  in  diameter,  bears  some  traces  of  a  statue 
surmounted  by  an  umbrella.  The  large  stone  story  has  eight  pro- 
jecting faces,  divided  from  each  other  by  a  panel  fifteen  feet  wide. 
Each  projecting  face  has  a  large,  deep  niche,  from  which  some  life- 


--  ll   l"    Im\W^'i',M' villi! 


CARVING    ON    BUDDUIST   TOWER    AT   8ARNATH. 


size  statue  has  long  since  disappeared.  Imagination  replaces  these 
with  the  figure  of  Buddha  and  his  disciples,  as  we  saw  them  so 
often  in  China  atid  Japan,  with  hands  raised  before  their  breasts, 


BEN^ARES  BY  DAYLIGHT.  381 

heads  bent  forward,  and  gazing  at  the  soles  of  their  feet.  Several 
of  these  projecting  faces  are  finely  ornamented  with  wi-eaths  of 
lotus — sometimes  the  plant  winds  as  a  vine  with  birds  and  dimin- 
utive hmnan  figures  resting  on  its  tendi'ils.  In  some  places,  it 
shows  the  tender  leaf  and  bud ;  in  others,  the  open  flower  of  the 
lotus.  The  carving  of  some  of  these  wreaths  is  unfinished — an  in- 
dication that  the  great  structure  was  never  completed.  We  con- 
cluded that  this  curious  tower  was  projected  and  raised  as  a  monu- 
ment of  Buddha's  reform,  but  abandoned  before  completion,  when 
the  religion  was  expelled  from  the  country.  We  have  alluded  to 
another  ruin — this  is  a  solid,  circular  brick  mound,  seventy-four 
feet  high,  with  an  octagonal  cupola  twenty-four  feet  high.  The 
cupola  has  its  history,  but  not  the  mound.  The  former  bears  an 
inscription  which  recites  that  the  sovereign  of  the  country  as- 
cended the  mound  in  the  year  51. 

March  11th. — We  have  to-day  viewed  Benares,  not,  as  on  our 
first  night,  under  an  artificial  illumination,  but  under  the  light  of 
an  equinoctial  sun.  We  passed  down  the  river  in  the  same  yacht 
which  floated  us  at  the  grand  festival. 

Long  before  John  baptized  in  the  Jordan,  the  Asiatics  had  con- 
ceived the  beautiful  idea  that  certain  rivers  are  holy,  and  that  their 
waters  have  the  power  of  "  cleansing  from  all  sin."  The  Ganges 
is,  as  it  always  has  been,  that  river  of  the  Hindoos.  They  must 
come  hither  as  pilgrims  from  the  most  distant  regions,  at  least'  once 
in  a  lifetime,  and  even  once  a  year,  if  they  can.  They  come 
here,  moreover,  if  they  can,  to  die ;  because,  to  die  in  the  holy  city, 
secures  a  direct  entrance  into  paradise.  Native  princes,  successful 
baboos,  and  rich  zemindars,  please  the  Bramin  priests  and  the  peo- 
ple, and  think  also  that  they  please  the  gods,  by  erecting  majestic 
temples  and  buildings,  costly  marble  ghauts  for  the  use  of  the  pil- 
grims as  well  as  burning  ghauts.  To  reach  these  ghauts,  the  high, 
steep  banks  of  the  i-iver,  for  miles  in  length,  are  terraced  with  per- . 
feet  stone  steps.  The  temples  rise  to  the  height  of  five,  six,  seven, 
eight,  nine  stories.  They  are  built  of  marble  and  freestone, 
pierced  with  windows  of  every  conceivable  graceful  shape,  and  are 


382  BRITISH  INDIA. 

extravagantly  ornamented  with  colonnades,  corridors,  balconies, 
niches,  large  and  small  domes,  towers,  pavilions,  and  pinnacles, 
which  are  set  off  with  gilding  and  bright  colors.  The  mosque, 
with  its  tapering  minarets,  occasionally  intei;jected  among  the  tem- 
ples, lends  a  pleasing  relief  to  the*  Hindoo  architecture,  while  its 
severe  form  and  outlines  seem  to  reprove  the  prolific  imagination 
of  the  Hindoos.  A  highly-picturesque  scene  presented  itself  on  the 
river-bank.  Citizens,  pilgrims,  men,  women,  and  children — singly, 
in  groups,  and  in  throngs — are  ascending  and  descending  the  stair- 
cases, bearing  on  their  heads  bronze  urns  and  vases,  large  and 
small,  of  forms  as  graceful  as  the  Etruscan.  Even  the  stately  ele- 
phant seems  to  have  adopted  the  mystic  faith,  for  we  saw  him  many 
times  walk  down  the  staircase,  which  had  been  nicely  adapted  to 
the  human  footstep,  fill  his  trunk,  and  solemnly  return.  Pilgrims 
were  plunging  into  the  water  from  platforms  and  boats  and  barges 
of  fanciful  construction,  some  in  the  shape  of  peacocks,  swans,  and 
fishes.  All  tlie  devotees  dress  in  snow-white  robes  as  they  leave 
the  water,  to  give  effect  to  the  idea  that  immersion  purifies.  The 
funeral-fires  of  the  previous  night  are  still  blazing.  How  can  they 
be  extinguished?  All  that  are  in  the  city  must  die,  and  all  that 
die  are  brought  here.  Having  passed  the  entire  river-front  in  the 
yacht,  we  dismissed  it  and  returned  through  the  streets  of  the  city. 
They  are  close  and  narrow,  but  well  paved,  and,  compared  with  the 
Chinese  cities,  excepting  Canton,  they  are  clean.  The  chief  temple 
is  that  of  Siva,  the  representative  of  the  principle  of  destruction 
and  reproduction.  The  dome  and  the  towers  are  of  burnished 
gold.  Siva  is  the  same  round,  black  stone  set  in  the  floor  as  at 
Calcutta.  Far  greater  reverence  is  paid  to  him  here.  Access  and 
egress  are  made  almost  impossible  by  the  multitude  of  pilgrims  and 
votaries,  who  come  into  the  temples  laden  with  perfumes,  fruits, 
flowers,  and  urns  of  holy  water.  Priests  receive  these  oblations 
and  appropriate  them  as  perquisites,  nor  did  the  holy  men  disdain 
to  receive  some  bright  silver  rupees  from  our  unworthy  and  pro- 
fane hands.  Thi'ee  small,  gentle,  and  very  pretty  sacred  white 
cows,  with  wreaths  of  orange-flowers  and  roses  around  their  necks, 
wander  at  pleasure  in  the  holiest  recesses  of  the  temple,  among 


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KINCOB  BROCADE.  383 

the  worshippers,  who  feed  them  with  rose-leaves  and  lotus- 
flowers. 

But  what  a  poor  apology  for  human  devotion  is  that  of  Siva 
compared  with  the  exhibition  of  that  sentiment  which  is  presented 
to  Doorga  !  At  the  temple  of  the  former  it  is  a  black  stone  that  is 
honored  ;  at  that  of  the  Doorga  it  is  the  living,  moving  animal  crea- 
tion, the  monkey.  Moreover,  these  monkeys  seem  to  appreciate 
their  celestial  privileges  and  honors.  They  are  of  all  sorts  and 
sizes.  We  saw  them  by  the  thousand  gambolling  in  the  courts, 
"  racing  and  chasing "  through  the  corridors,  and  mischievously 
laughing  upon  the  worshippers  below  from  columns  and  cornices, 
from  balustrades  and  balconies. 

Edifices  of  all  sorts,  even  the  dwelling-houses,  are  stupendous 
and  massive.  The  basements  are  used  for  mechanics  and  other 
tenants  of  low  degree.  The  upper  stories,  guarded  by  bars  and 
screens,  are  the  gorgeous  zenanas  ;  fit  family  dwellings  for  a  people 
who,  unanimously  thinking  that  the  virtue  of  woman  can  only  be 
secured  by  her  imprisonment,  magnanimously  try  to  relieve  that 
durance  by  extravagant  indulgences  of  luxury  and  ostentation. 
The  shops  are  seldom  more  than  eight  feet  square.  The  articles 
made  are  chiefly  ornaments  and  religious  tokens.  As,  in  ancient 
Ephesus,  the  people  princij^ally  supported  themselves  by  making 
images  of  Diana,  so  the  people  of  Benares  largely  support  them- 
selves by  the  manufacture  of  idols — idols  great,  idols  small,  idols 
white,  idols  black,  idols  red,  idols  yellow,  idols  of  bronze,  iron, 
wood,  stone,  porcelain,  and  glass. 

We  visited  the  warehouse  of  the  Jcincob — a  brocade,  the  most 
exquisite  of  fibrous  fabrics ;  its  materials,  the  richest  of  silk  and 
the  purest  of  gold,  worn  by  the  native  princes,  baboos,  and  zemin- 
dars, woven  in  patterns  five  yards  long  and  one  yard  wide.  A 
pattern  never  costs  less  than  three  hundred  dollars.  The  merchant 
displays  in  a  book  the  names  of  a  few  English  ladies  as  customers, 
but  their  purchases  were  very  small.  Is  it  not  strange  that  the  na- 
tive rulers  of  India,  after  disasters  which  have  deprived  them  of 
their  independence  and  universally  impoverished  if  not  ruined  them, 
continue  to  dress  in  costumes  which  no  Western  state  of  wealth 


384 


BRITISH   INDIA. 


can  command  ?  The  mercliant  in  the  East,  everywhere,  is  afniable 
and  polite.  The  vendor  of  kincob  received  us,  who  merely  came 
to  look  at  his  wares,  with  bouquets  and  garlands  when  we  came,  and 
showered  us  with  rose-water  when  we  departed. 

Superstition  counts  the  population  of  Benares  by  the  million, 
and  its  sacred  edifices  by  the  thousand.  The  real  population  is  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand,  and  it  contains  between  three  and  four 
hundred  temples.  So  much  of  the  history  of  Benares  as  we  have 
not  related  was  sublimely  spoken  by  Burke  in  his  account  of  the 
cruelty  of  Warren  Hastings  to  the  Maharajah  Cheyte  Sing,  ances- 
tor of  our  host.  What  we  have  left  unsaid  of  the  incomparable 
magnificence  of  the  city  is  told  by  Macaulay  in  his  essay  on  War- 
ren Hastings. 


TEMPLES   AT   BENAEES. 


QUEEN'S    COLLEGE,     BENA.RES. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ALLAHABAD,    LUCKNOW,   AND  AGRA. 

Allahabad,  the  City  of  God. — Cawnpore. — Lucknow,  the  Capital  of  Oude. — Extent  of  the 
Country. — Arrival  at  Agra. — A  Marvellous  Monument  of  Arms,  Arts,  and  Empire. — 
Akbar  the  Great. — His  Vast  Architectural  Works. — The  Pearl  Mosque. — Futtehpore 
Sikra.— Its  Great  Wall.— The  Tomb  of  Sheik  Selim  Chishti.— The  Panch  Mahal.— Ak- 
bar's  Tomb. — His  Wealth. — His  Horses  and  his  Elephants. — Weighing  his  Presents. 

March  ISth. — AlJahabad  (the  city  of  God),  once  a  Mohamme 
dan  town,  has  now  relapsed  to  the  religion  of  Bramah.  It  stands 
on  the  Jumna,  just  above  its  confluence  with  the  Ganges.  It  de- 
rives its  present  importance  from  its  being -the  place  of  junction  for 
the  railroads  of  Northern  India  with  the  main  eastern  and  western 
line,  which  connects  Bombay  and  Calcutta.  The  railroad  bridge 
across  the  Jumna  is  celebrated  throughout  the  world.  Allahabad 
is  a  large  military  station,  and  the  capital  of  the  northwestern 
provinces.  It  has  a  public  garden,  which  receives  a  picturesque 
effect  from  two  massive  Mohammedan  tombs  or  imambarras. 

We  were  met  at  the  station,  at  ten  o'clock  last  night,  by 
an  officer,  and  conducted  to  Government  House,  the  residence 
of  the  governor,  Sir  William  Muir.  This  spacious  and  elegant 
structure  was  illuminated  for  a  concert.  Hospitality  attended 
with  less  ostentation,  or  a  more  sympathetic  kindness,  we  have 
never  known.  Sir  William  and  Lady  Muir  not  only  believe  in 
works  of  education,  but  they  are  patrons  of  the  "  Woman's  Union 
Society  of  America."  A  sudden  indisposition  prevented  Mr. 
Seward's  attendance  at   a"  dinner  made  for  him  by  the  United 


386 


BRITISH   INDIA. 


Military  and  Civil  Service  Club  of  the  Northwestern  Provinces, 
and  the  zealous  American  missionaries  residing  here. 

Cawnpo7'e,  If  arch  'i^tli. — Lady  Muir  accompanied  us  to  our 
car  at  one  o'clock  this  morning.  We  rode  through  ripening  wheat- 
fields,  and  reached  the  town  on  the  south  side  of  the  Ganges  at 
sunrise.  We  write  these  notes  while  crossing  that  river  on  a  pon- 
toon bridge,  a  form  especially  adapted  to  rivei'S  like  this,  which  are 
subject  to  immense  freshets  and  floods. 

LueTcnow,  March  "ilst. — We  came  forty  miles  to  this  city,  the 
capital  of  the  once  independent  but  now  nominal  kingdom  of 
Oude,  over  a  branch  of  the  East  India  Railway,  and  through  the 
valley  of  the  Goomty,  a  tributary  of  the  Ganges.  The  soil,  often 
and  severely  swept  by  deluges,  is  poor.  We  are  guests  here  of 
General  Barrow,  now  Commissioner  (that  is  to  say,  Lieutenant- 
Governor)  of  Oude.  With  an  area"  half  as  large  as  that  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  Oude  has  a  population  of  three  millions.    Its  ancient 


''^^^V%^|^/^ 


hly:-r^Z;-^^^^ 


KESIDBNCY    AT   LUCKNOW. 


LUCKNOW   AND   AGRA.  S87 

Mogul  capital,  which  iu  our  maps  bears  the  name  of  Onde,  is  now 
called  Fyzabad.  Lucknow  has  enjoyed  that  distinction  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  years,  and  now  contains  half  a  million  ot  uihab- 
itants.  It  is  doubtless  true  that  Great  Britain  owes  her  empire  in 
India  more  to  the  dissension  of  its  native  rulers  than  to  the  force 
of  arms.  We  have  already  seen  enough  of  the  country  to  know 
that  the  causes  of  those  dissensions  were,  like  the  divisions  among 
our  aboriginal  tribes,  deep  and  lasting.  The  Bramin  religion, 
where  it  was  universal,  had  no  effect  to  produce  unity  among  the 
tribal  communities  dispersed  over  vast  territory,  and  rendered 
irreconcilable  by  diversity  of  climate,  race,  and  language.  The 
Tartars  or  Scythians,  border  nations  on  the  North,  continually  in- 
truded, producing  alienation  between  the  Hindoo  communities, 
while  the  conquering  Mohammedans,  by  an  arrogant  rule,  op- 
pressed and  crushed  the  natives. 

Agra,  If  arch  22c?. — Leaving  the  Ganges  at  Cawnpore,  we  came, 
by  the  East  India  Railway,  to  Toondla  junction,  and  thence,  over  a 
branch,  to  Agra,  on  the  Jumna,  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  north- 
west from  Allahabad.  Some  hills,  which  we  crossed,  are  without 
irrigation  and  barren,  but  the  country  generally  wears  the  same  as- 
pect as  the  plain  of  the  Ganges.  The  irrigated  wheat-fields  yield 
sixteen  bushels  to  the  acre.  The  population  is  four  hundred  to  a 
square  mile.  They  have  no  modern  agricultural  implements  or 
machinery.  Deficient  in  industry  as  in  energy,  they  sit  on  the 
gTound  when  they  use  the  sickle.  That  they  are  humane  is  seen  in 
the  large  privileges  they  yield  to  the  gleaners. 

When  we  came  to  Benares,  the  gentleman  who  met  us  there 
said,  "We  are  glad  that  you  came  here  before  going  to  Agra." 
"  You  do  well,"  said  General  Barrow,  "  to  see  Lucknow  before 
going  to  Agra."     Both  were  right. 

Benares,  although  unique  and  grand,  now  seems  to  us  as 
merely  an  embodiment  of  an  inactive  sentiment  of  mystic  devo- 
tion. Lucknow  is  the  fanciful  capital  of  an  ephemeral  kingdom. 
Agra,  though  ruined,  is  a  marvellous  monument  of  arms,  arts, 
and  empire.     During  a  period  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  and 


388  BRITISH  INDIA. 

until  the  reign  of  Akbar,  the  successors  of  Tamerlane  made  little 
progress  in  consolidating  their  empire  in  India.  That  monarch, 
the  greatest,  wisest,  and  best  of  them  all,  enlarged  it  from  three 
provinces  to  fifteen,  and  founded  the  capital  at  Agra,  which  soon 
grew  into  a  magnificent  city  of  half  a  million.  His  successors,  per- 
haps wisely,  perhaps  necessarily,  removed  the  Mogul  throne  to 
Delhi ;  and  Agra,  experiencing  no  subsequent  renovation  in  the 
casualties  of  war  and  conquest,  has  shrunk  into  a  provincial  town 
of  a  quarter  of  its  former  population.  There  are  three  monuments 
here  and  in  the  vicinity  which  are  the  work  of  Akbar :  the  fort  of 
Agra,  Futtehpore  Sikra,  and  Secundra.  These,  together  with  the 
famous  Taj-Mahal,  constitute  the  traveller's  study  here.  The  fort, 
which  has  an  ample  moat  and  drawbridge,  is  a  mile  and  a  half  in 
circuit,  built  entirely  of  red  sandstone,  and  measures,  from  the  foun- 
dation to  the  embrasured  battlements,  seventy-two  feet.  It  seems 
to  have  been  designed  quite  as  much  for  civil  use  as  for  defence. 
It  now  contains  a  British  arsenal.  Its  area  was  filled  with  palatial 
structures,  of  which  two  remain  in  a  state  of  imperfect  preservation, 
the  Imperial  Palace  and  the  Pearl  Mosque.  The  substructions  of 
the  palace  are  red  sandstone,  but  nearly  all  of  its  porticos,  courts, 
corridors,  chambers,  and  pavilions,  are  of  polished  white  marble. 
The  walls  of  the  balcony,  which  overhangs  the  Jumna,  are  finely 
inlaid  inside  and  outside  with  mosaics,  which  combine  jasper,  agate, 
carnelian,  bloodstone,  lapis-lazuli,  and  malachite.  The  balcony  is 
guarded  with  balustrades  ot  delicate  marble  fretwork.  The  apart- 
ments of  the  zenana  are  extensive  and  of  exquisite  finish.  They 
look  down  upon  what  was  once  a  garden.  The  fountains,  which 
threw  fanciful  jets  into  bathing-rooms,  are  broken  up,  but  the 
vaulted  roofs  of  marble  tracery  still  remain  filled  with  the  thou- 
sands of  miniature  prismatic  mirrors.  The  Divan,  in  Oriental 
speech  called  the  "  Judgment-seat  ot  Akbar,"  is  a  grand  open  por- 
tico, with  Saracenic  roof  and  arches,  resting  on  three  rows  of  col- 
umns. In  its  centre  is  a  marbte  throne,  inlaid,  like  the  pavilion 
which  covers  it,  with  mosaic  wreaths  and  texts  from  the  Koran, 
composed  of  jasper  and  carnelian.  A  tablet,  in  the  wall  behind 
the  throne,  bears  the  inscription  "Ain  Akbaree"  (the  Laws  of 


EXTERIOR    OF    THE    FORT. 


THE  PEARL  MOSQUE. 


389 


Akbar).     A  Persian  poet  lias  written  beneath  it,  in  his  own  lan- 


guage, 


"  The  Euler  of  the  World." 


The  Motee  Miisjid,  poetically  Pearl  Mosque^  and  the  pearl  of 
all  mosques,  consists  of  a  single  corridor  of  polished  white  marble, 
with  three  rows  of  Saracenic  pillars  and  arches,  which  support  a 
marble  dome,  encircled  with  gilded  minarets.     The  dimensions  are 


INLAID   8CKEE1J,  TOMB   OF  MINA  BEGUM,   AGRA. 


small,  but  the  symmetry  is  perfect,  while  a  severe  simplicity  ex- 
cludes equally  blemish,  fault,  or  excess.  Less  fortunate  in  official 
acquaintance  here  than  elsewhere,  we  were  unable  to  gain  admit- 
tance to  the  storehouse  in  the  arsenal,  in  which  are  preserved  the 
famous  sandal-wood  gates  which  Sultan  Mahmoud  of  Ghuznee 
carried  away  from  the  ancient  ecclesiastical  city  of  Somnath  to 


390  BRITISH  INDIA. 

Afghanistan,    eight    hundred   years   ago,   and   which   the   British 
brought  back  in  1S42,  to  please  their  Hindoo  subjects. 

March  23d. — Futtehpore  Sikra  is  twenty-two  miles  west  of 
A<rra.  Desirous  to  avoid  travel  under  a  mid-dav  heat,  we  con- 
traeted  yesterday,  with  the  landlord,  for  a  carriage  and  two  horses, 
to  leave  the  hotel  at  five  o'clock  this  morning,  with  relays  on  the 
road.  By  dint  of  labor,  we  awakened  the  landlord,  servants,  and 
drivers,  and  got  off  at  half-past  six,  with  only  one  horse,  and  no 
provision  for  a  relay.  The  smooth  road  over  a  level  plain  exhibits 
on  all  sides  the  ruins  of  mosques  and  palaces  of  the  once  great 
capital.  As  this  was  practically  our  first  private  excursion  in  the 
country,  we  greatly  enjoyed  the  novel  rural  scenes  it  presented. 
Here  was  the  primitive  Hindoo  well  or  fountain  by  the  roadside, 
from  which  veiled  maidens  were  filling  their  polished  brazen  urns. 
We  saw  even  the  youthful  Jacob,  helping  a  bashful  Rachel  to  poise 
a  pitcher  on  her  head.  The  dress  of  the  people  is  more  striking, 
both  in  fashion  and  color,  than  we  have  before  seen.  The  crow  is 
here  in  force  as  everywhere,  but  is  outnumbered  by  the  ring  clove. 
Adjutants  and  flamingos  marshalled  us  through  avenues  of  flower- 
ing acacias  and  mangos.  Oxen,  asses,  and  camels,  in  trains  and 
loaded  with  cotton,  obstructed  the  way. 

Futtehpore  Sikra  was  an  imperial  suburb  built  by  Akbar,  and 
was  six  miles  in  circumference.  He  enclosed  the  whole  by  a  high 
embrasured  wall  of  red  sandstone.  This  fortification,  with  its  lofty 
Saracenic  gate,  remains  as  if  in  mockery,  protecting  the  now  deso- 
lated theatre  of  imperial  pomp  and  recreation.  Our  one  jaded 
beast  gave  out  when  we  reached  this  gate.  A  native  guide  met  us 
there,  and  we  found  his  strong  arm  useful  in  climbing  the  rocky 
ledge  under  a  burning  sun.  He  led  ns,  by  a  circuitous  path  over 
broken  columns  and  fallen  arches,  into  a  court  covered  with  masses 
of  debris.  Before  us  rose  a  terrace,  which  we  were  to  ascend  by 
one  hundred  stone  steps.  This  staircase  was  crowned  by  a  Sara- 
cenic gate-way  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  high.  Ascending  the 
easy  and  yet  nnbroken  stairway,  we  passed  under  the  lofty  arch, 
which   invites  the  pilgrim  of  every  land  to  the  tomb  of  Sheik 


< 

a: 

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'J) 


A   SARACEXIC   GATE. 


391 


Selim  Cliisliti,  tlie  religious  monitor  of  Akbar.  Here  we  rested  a 
moment  to  examine  the  stupendous  open  doors,  which,  though  fur- 
rowed by  the  storms  of  three  hundred  years,  are  still  almost  literally 


tAKACESIC   GATE. 


covered  with  gilded  horseshoes.  The  soubaJidars  of  the  empire  in 
their  pride  took  them  from  the  hoofs  of  favorite  steeds,  and  affixed 
them  on  the  gates  in  token  of  fealty  to  Akbar.  Passing  from  the 
gate,  we  stood  in  a  court  four  hundred  feet  square,  closely  paved 
with  dark-red  hewn  sandstone.  On  the  several  sides  of  the  court 
is  a  corridor  fifty  feet  wide,  with  a  roof  resting  on  pillars  of  red 
sandstone  fifty  feet  high.  A  central  fountain  lends  a  peculiar  grace 
to  the  court.  The  tomb  of  the  sheik  is  beyond  the  fountain,  op- 
posite to  the  great  portal,  and  is  surmounted  by  a  lofty,  triple- 


392  BRITISH   INDIxV. 

domed  mosqiie  of  white  marble.  The  pedestal  or  platform  is  of 
jasper.  The  sarcophagus  resting  on  it  has  a  canopy  six  feet  high, 
and  both  are  of  unmixed  mother-of-pearl.  The  whole  structure  is 
protected  on  all  sides  by  a  white  marble  screen,  composed  of  panels, 
eight  feet  square,  of  open  filagree  work,  inlaid  with  carnelian.  It 
detracts  somewhat  from  the  character  of  Sheik  Selim  Chishti  for 
ascetic  virtue,  as  well  as  from  the  character  of  Akbar  for  munifi- 
cence, that  this  gorgeous  tomb  was  built  with  the  private  assets  of 
the  saint  himself,  at  a  cost  of  nearly  two  million  dollars.  We 
climbed  the  roof  of  the  corridor  and  looked  down  on  a  mass  and 
medley  of  ruins,  bounded  only  by  the  outer  wall.  The  desolation 
seemed  complete,  except  that  here  and  there  we  distinguished  a 
pavilion  not  entirely  dilapidated,  a  pointed  arch,  a  monmiient  or  a 
pinnacle,  which  maintains  its  solitary  position  in  defiance  of  time. 
We  now  repaired  to  the  palace  in  which  Akbar  resided.  It  might 
with  no  great  expense  be  restored.  It  is  not  one  compact  structure, 
but  consists  of  many  edifices,  some  quite  distant  from  the  others. 

Moved  by  a  tradition  w^hich  prevails  here  that  Akbar  had  a 
Christian  wife,  brought  from  Constantinople,  we  explored  a  suite 
of  apartments  which  she  is  said  t:o  have  occupied,  expecting  to  find 
relics  of  her  piety  and  devotion.  But  we  had  no  more  success  here 
than  in  our  inquiries  for  "  Jessie  Brown  "  at  Lucknow.  There 
still  remain  in  these  sumptuous  apartments  some  fine  frescos,  the 
work  evidently  of  Persian  artists — while  the  walls  and  ceilings  ex- 
hibit a  wonderful  elaboration  of  sculpture. 

It  is  impossible  now  to  obtain  a  correct  idea  of  the  nses  of  the 
difi'erent  corridors,  courts,  pavilions,  and  gate-ways  which  intervene 
between  the  principal  structures  of  the  palace.  One  of  these  is 
very  curious,  the  Panch  Mahal.  It  consists  of  five  pavilions,  each 
of  which  is  supported  by  carved  pillars.  The  several  pavilions  are 
in  stories  or  stages,  one  above  another,  making  the  form  of  a 
pyramid.  Another  pavilion  has  a  large  suite  of  apartments  ar- 
ranged in  a  labyrinth.  Tradition  says  that  the  ladies  of  the  harem 
used  this  part  of  the  building  for  the  diversion  of  hide-and-seek. 
There  is  a  square  edifice,  standing  quite  by  itself,  and  covered  by  a 
dome :  on  the  outside,  it  appears  to  be  of  two  stories ;  within,  how- 


PILLAR     IN     AKBAR'S     COUNCIL-CHAMBER. 


THE   PANCH  MAHAL. 


J93 


ever,  it  is  open  from  the  floor  to  the  ceiling  of  the  dome.  A 
massive  carved  pillar  rises  in  the  centre  from  the  floor  to  the 
cei[ing.  Fifteen  feet  from  the  floor  is  a  gallery  with  a  balustrade 
encircling  the  chamber.  From  each  corner  of  this  gallery  a  plat- 
form, with  a  like  balustrade,  connects  horizontally  with  a  circula?' 
gallery  built  around  the  central  column. 


't^T^r-^iv 


PANCH  MAHAL, 


Akbar  was  a  contemporary  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  They  assure  us 
that  he  sat  on  the  central  platform  and  leaned  against  the  column, 
which  supports  it,  while  he  listened  to  the  instructions  in  science, 
morals,  and  religion,  of  sages  and  saints  whom  he  had  summoned 
from  all  the  schools  and  cloisters  of  the  East,  and  who  were  arranged 
on  the  outer  platform  around  him.  The  broad  disk  of  the  dial  by 
which  the  Mogul  monarch  measured  the  hours  remains.  There  is 
still  in  good  preservation  the  place  where  Akbar  stood  while  re- 


394  BRITISH  IXDIA. 

ceiving  the  homage  of  his  subjects  at  his  levees  or  durhars.  Xor 
is  there  wanting  unequivocal  evidence  that  the  great  man  delighted 
in  games  of  chance.  An  open  square  of  sixty  feet  has  a  pavement, 
arranged  as  a  chess-board,  in  blochs  of  black  and  white  marble. 
Instead  of  ivorj,  bronze,  or  wooden  chess-men,  the  contending 
kings,  queens,  knights,  bishops,  castles,  and  pawns,  were  beautiful 
slave-women,  who  moved  as  directed  by  the  monarch  or  his  oppo- 
nent. They  add  further  that  the  performers  themselves  were  the 
stake  for  which  the  game  was  played.  A  building  known  as  the 
palace  of  Beerbal  was  assigned  by  Akbar  to  his  favorite  prime- 
minister.  It  remains  in  fine  preservation,  and  our  architects  and 
artists  might  study  to  advantage  its  classic  design  and  elaborate 
sculpture.  K  the  ghost  of  the  favorite  is  allowed  to  revisit  the 
scene  of  his  power,  he  might  well  exclaim,  "  To  what  base  uses  " 
has  my  palace  "  come  at  last ! "  when  he  saw  us,  infidel  republicans 
of  the  "\Yest,  loitering,  lunching,  and  lounging  in  his  elegant  cham- 
bers. TVe  pass  without  particular  mention  the  so-called  "  Antelope 
Tower,"  one  hundred  feet  high,  studded  with  imitation  elephants' 
tusks,  as  well  as  the  triumphal  arch,  guarded  by  colored  elephants. 
But  we  must  not  omit  to  record  that,  excepting  the  tomb,  mosque, 
and  other  merely  ornamental  structures,  the  entire  town  of  Fut- 
tehpore  Sikra  was  built  wholly  of  fine  freestone;  no  baser 
material  entered  into  the  construction  for  the  purpose  of  either 
foundation,  column,  wall,  roof,  or  dome. 

We  historically  know  that  this  palace  was  built  in  1571,  and 
that  Akbar  resided  in  it  twelve  years.  We  have  no  account  of  the 
period  when  its  decay  began,  or  how  ra])id  has  been  its  fall  into 
neglect  and  ruin. 

March  24^/i. — If  a  man  desires  that  there  shall  be  a  monument 
to  perpetuate  his  memory,  he  does  wisely,  in  a  worldly  sense,  if 
he  builds  it  himself.  Akbar's  tomb  at  Secundra  shows  that  he 
had  this  wisdom.  He  extended  the  Mogul  Empire  from  the  Indus 
to  the  Bay  of  Bengal.  Historians  rather  indicate  Ids  wealth  by 
anecdote  than  describe  his  habits  of  life.  They  tell  us  that  his 
private  hunting-stud,  used  also  for  war-purposes,  consisted  of  five 


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WEIGHING  PRESENTS. 


895 


tlioiisand  elei^hants  and  ten  thousand  horses.  "We  do  not  know 
-whether  he  was  the  first  to  set  the  example  which  is  said  still  to 
prevail  among  the  princes  of  the  East,  oi  weighing  his  gratuities  in 
gold  against  his  own  weight  on  festive  occasions ;  it  is,  however, 
certain,  that  this  monarch  on  one  such  occasion  weighed  a  gratuity 
in  gold  against  his  own  person,  a  second  gratuity  in  silver,  and  a 
third  in  perfumes. 


akbae'b  tomb  at  secukbea. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

8ECUNDRA  AND    THE  TAJ-MAHAL. 

The  Tomb  of  Akbar. — Derivation  of  the  Name  of  Secundra. — The  Taj-Mahal,  the  Tomb 
of  the  Bauoo  Begum. — Description  of  the  Taj. — The  Tomb  of  King  Cotton. — The 
Infei'iority  of  Indian  Cotton. — Mode  of  Packing  it. 

The  plain  over  wliicli  we  drove,  five  miles  to  Secundra,  sliows 
some  imambarras  and  other  less  pretentious  Moorish  tombs,  all 
dilapidated  or  in  ruins.  The  great  imambarra,  here  called  simplj 
the  tomb  of  Akbar,  stands  on  a  terrace  of  moderate  elevation,  in 
the  centre  of  an  immense  garden,  which  overlooks  the  Jumna. 
The  entrance  to  the  garden  is  through  a  Saracenic  gate-way,  with  a 
white  marble  minaret  rising  on  either  side,  and  towering  high 
above  the  apex  of  the  lofty  arch.  Besides  a  profusion  of  roses  and 
other  flowering  shrubs,  the  garden  makes  a  rich  display  of  mango, 
orange,  date,  palm,  perpul,  and  banyan  trees.  The  perpul,  with 
its  branches  bending  in  the  wind  and  trailing  on  the  ground,  is 
emblematic  of  mourning  in  the  East,  as  the  willow  is  in  the  West. 
A  series  of  oblong  marble  fountains,  stretching  down  a  terraced 
slope,  filled  with  the  lotus  and  other  aquatic  plants,  divides  into  two 
parts  the  grand  avenue  which  leads  through  the  gate  from  the  gar- 
den to  the  tomb.  The  imambarra  covers  a  space  of  three  hundred 
feet,  upon  a  platform  of  white  marble  four  hundred  feet  square.  It 
has  five  stories,  each  upper  story  being  of  smaller  dimensions  than 
the  one  beneath  it.  The  four  lower  stories  are  built  of  red  sand- 
stone— the  upper  one,  including  floor,  dome,  and   cupola,  is  of 


DERIVATION   OF  SECUNDRA.  81)7 


ov  i 


polished  white  marble.  The  exterior  of  the  several  stories,  instead 
of  having  balustrades,  is  ornamented  with  pavilions,  which,  restino- 
on  graceful  columns,  terminate  in  gilded  spires.  Having  reached 
the  paved  floor  of  the  first  story,  we  descended  an  inclined  plane, 
into  a  spacious,  oblong,  arched  vault,  directly  under  the  centre  of 
the  edifice.  Its  roof  rests  on  polished  marble  columns,  the  spaces 
between  which  are  filled  with  chiselled  marble  screens.  A  marble 
sarcophagus  within  this  vault  contains  the  ashes  of  Akbar.  The 
covering  of  the  sarcophagus  is  ornamented  with  flowering-vines, 
and  on  its  lid  is  an  Arabic  inscription.  It  is  a  favorite  piinciple 
in  Oriental  architecture,  that  each  distinct  part  must  have  a  rela- 
tive or  corresponding  part,  called  an  answer.  The  principle  is  car- 
ried here  to  absurdity :  there  is  a  mock  sarcophagus  on  the  marble 
floor  of  the  uppermost  story,  directly  over  the  sarcophagus,  wrought 
in  precisely  the  same  form  as  the  one  below.  Its  lid  is  covered 
with  inscriptions,  in  raised  letters,  of  the  ninety  names  of  God. 
This  imambarra  is,  we  doubt  not,  the  most  magnificent  monument 
which  ever  was  raised  to  the  memory  of  a  conqueror.  In  1803,  it 
served  as  a  barrack  for  a  regiment  of  dragoons,  but  the  Government 
of  British  India  has  since  that  time  taken  special  care  to  protect  it 
equally  from  decay  and  desecration.  Not  a  stone  of  the  noble 
structure  has  been  removed  or  displaced. 

We  leave  the  tomb  of  the  great  Akbar  with  the  single  re- 
mark that  the  name  of  the  place  which  contains  it,  Secundra,  is 
an  Indian  derivation  from  that  of  the  first  European  invader  of 
India,  Alexander  the  Great.  The  name  of  that  conqueror  seems 
to  have  secured  the  same  admiration  in  the  East  which  in  the 
West  has  been  so  long  accorded  to  tliat  of  Cresar. 

Although  Akbar  is  distinguished  for  having  built  for  the  de- 
fence of  his  capital  the  unequalled  fort  of  Agra,  with  its  splendid 
palace  and  its  beautiful  Pearl  Mosque,  and  although  he  converted 
the  stony  ledge  of  Futtehpore  Sikra  into  an  architectural  vision  for 
an  illustration  of  his  reign,  and  although  he  built  for  himself  at 
Secundra  a  monument  more  admirable  than  that  of  Cheops,  never- 
theless, it  remained  for  a  descendant  to  raise  a  monument  more 

exquisite  than  anv  of  these — a  monument,  indeed,  which  is  admit- 
31  " 


398 


BRITISH  INDIA. 


ted  by  the  whole  world  to  be  the  most  beautiful  that  the  earth  has 
ever  beheld. 

An  opinion  prevails  to  some  extent  in  the  West  that  the  Taj- 
Mahal  is  the  tomb  of  Nom^mahal,  "  the  Light  of  the  Harem,"  in 
Moore's  "  Lalla  Rookh."  But  that  is  an  error.  "  The  Light  of  the 
Harem,"  the  young  Nourmahal,  was  buried  at  Lahore.  Shah 
Jehan,  the  son  of  Jehangeer,  and  grandson  of  Akbar,  who  built 
the  Taj-Mahal,  to  be  the  tomb  of  his  sultana,  Banoo  Begum,  was 
a  prince  of  magnificent  tastes.  He  was  also  called  to  endure 
many  trials  and  much  suffering.  History  does  not  attempt  to  tell 
how  the  Banoo  Begum,  more  than  others  of  her  sex,  deserved  the 


TAJ-MAHAL. 


great  distinction  which  she  attained.  Poets  in  the  East,  in  their 
imaginative  dreamings,  have  tried  to  supply  this  shortcommg  of  his- 
tory.    They  describe  her  as  beautiful,  graceful,  gentle,  loving,  and 


THE   TAJ-MAHAL.  399 

faithful,  but  hundreds,  thousands,  and  millions,  who  have  been  as 
lovable  as  she  is  thus  described,  have  passed  away  without  monu- 
ment, though  they  may  have  been  neither  "  unwept,  unhonored,  nor 
unsung."  Let  the  natural  suggestion  of  our  own  hearts  furnish 
the  solution.  Whatever  else  Banoo  Begum  may  have  been,  or 
may  have  done,  she  was  beautiful,  she  loved  Shah  Jehan  devotedly, 
and  he  loved  her  more  than  all  the  world  beside.  Tradition  says 
that  she  called  her  husband  to  her  side  in  her  last  hours,  and  re- 
quired him  to  promise  her  two  things :  First,  that  he  would  not 
maiTy  again ;  and,  second,  that  he  would  build  her  a  beautiful  tomb. 
We  reject  the  tradition,  for  we  are  unwilling  to  believe  that  a 
woman  who  could  inspire  such  love  as  his  could  have  doubted  his 
fidelity,  or  have  been  concerned  about  her  own  interment. 

The  Taj  stands  upon  the  centre  of  a  terrace,  within  a  walled 
garden  of  twenty^^ve  acres,  on  the  banks  of  the  Jumna.  At  either 
end  of  the  terrace  is  an  edifice  of  massive  sandstone,  with  a  dome 
of  the  same  material.  Midway  between  these  is  the  incomparable 
Taj.  As  you  approach,  through  an  outer  paved  and  walled  pre- 
cinct, the  grand  gate-way  comes  into  view.  It  is  a  majestic  Sara- 
cenic arch,  eighty  feet  high,  springing  from  two  abutments  of  red 
sandstone,  having  white  marble  panels,  which  are  completely 
covered  with  texts  from  the  Koran,  inlaid  in  black  marble,  and 
each  being  surmounted  by  a  white-marble  minaret.  Coming  under 
the  arch,  and  looking  through  a  long  vista  formed  by  rows  of  Ital- 
ian cypress-trees  planted  on  either  side  of  a  series  of  crystal  foun- 
tains, you  see  the  Taj  rising  from  an  elevation  of  thirty  feet  above 
the  terrace.  The  platform,  in  the  middle  of  the  terrace,  is  a  squa.^e 
of  four  hundred  feet,  paved  with  white  marble,  and  each  comei 
bears  an  exquisite  white-marble  minaret,  two  hundred  feet  high. 
The  Taj  is  a  square  structure  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  reduced 
to  an  octagonal  figure,  with  four  principal  faces,  by  having  the  cor- 
ners cut  down.  The  four  smaller  faces  are  lower  than  the  larger 
ones.  The  entire  edifice  is  built  of  polished  white  marble.  Its 
Oriental  dome,  first  swelling  into  a  globe,  tapers  upward  into  a 
spire  which  is  surmounted  by  a  golden  crescent.  Four  lesser 
domes  of  the  same  matchless  form  crown  the  truncated  facades. 


400  BRITISn  INDIA. 

At  tlie  centre  of  each  of  tlie  four  wide  sides  or  fronts  is  a  porcli, 
^consisting  of  a  single  Saracenic  arcli,  which  rises  from  the  pave- 
ment two-thirds  of  the  height  of  the  building.  Between  these 
great  arches  the  wall  is  relieved  by  two  lesser  arches  of  the  same 
form,  one  above  the  other,  producing,  at  a  distance,  the  appearance 
of  windows.  The  whole  Koran  is  written,  by  chapters,  in  flowing 
letters  of  delicately-inlaid  black  marble,  over  the  carved  pilasters, 
architraves,  and  arches.  Entering  the  porch,  opposite  the  great 
gate-way,  you  descend  a  gently-inclined  plane,  as  in  the  tomb  of 
Akbar,  and  reach  a  vaulted  white-marble  chamber  directly  under 
the  centre  of  the  edifice.  The  light,  admitted  through  the  door  by 
wdiich  you  have  entered,  is  collected  and  concentrated  on  the  mar- 
ble sarcophagus  of  Banoo  Begum.  A  similar  though  smaller  sar- 
cophagus is  placed  in  the  shadow — it  holds  the  dust  of  her  lover- 
husband.  Shah  Jehan.  Each  of  these  tombs  is  o^arble  as  pure  as 
the  purest  of  Carrara,  the  sultana's  most  elaborately  inlaid  with 
vines,  interwoven  with  texts  from  the  Koran,  traced  in  blood- 
stone, agate,  carnelian,  lapis-lazuli,  malachite,  jasper,  garnets,  em- 
eralds, rubies,  topaz,  and  sapphires.  Ascending  to  the  main  floor 
of  the  edifice,  over  the  vaulted  chamber,  you  are  in  the  centre  of 
an  octagonal  temple,  and  look  up  into  a  dome  of  snowy  marble, 
two  hundred  and  sixty-two  feet  high.  This  interior,  though  of  vast 
dimensions,  has  such  delicate  proportions,  and  such  harmony  of 
light,  that  you  are  not  at  all  oppressed  with  a  sense  of  grandeur  or 
immensity,  but  only  of  a  consciousness  of  exquisite,  indescribable 
beauty.  Although  we  stepped  regularly,  timidly,  and  lightly,  yet 
our  footsteps  brought  down  deafening  reverberations  from  the 
dome.  Our  conversation  came  back  to  us  in  a  confusion  of  thun- 
ders, and  a  gentle  whisper  was  repeated  over  and  over  again,  like 
tones  of  music  dying  in  the  distance.  On  the  rich  mosaic  floor,  di- 
rectly above  the  real  tomb,  are  the  duplicate  sarcophagi,  and  a  flood 
of  mellowed  light,  brought  through  a  single  aperture  in  the  dome, 
streams  over  the  answering  memorial  of  the  beautiful  Begum. 
These  simulated  cenotaphs  are  ornamented  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  real  ones  below,  but  more  elaborately  and  more  exquisitely. 
They  are  protected  by  an  octagonal  screen,  eight  feet  high,  of  mar- 


THE   TOMB   OF   KING   COTTON.  401 

ble  lace-work,  marvellously  interwoven  with  stems,  leaves,  and 
flowers  of  the  lotus  and  of  the  rose,  all  encircled  with  a  waving 
wreath  of  graceful,  tender,  twining  passion-flower,  in  mosaic  of 
precious  stones  and  gems. 

Man's  chief  subject  of  contemplation  is  his  Creator,  his  Eedeem- 
er,  his  Saviour.  In  action  he  balances  between  desire  for  power  and 
love  of  freedom.  He  has  attempted  to  express  all  these  emotions 
in  architecture.  The  Parthenon  is  his  highest  expression,  in  that 
form,  of  awe  of  the  gods.  St.  Peter's  speaks,  with  not  less  distinct- 
ness, his  sentiment  of  religious  devotion.  The  Pyramids  tell  his 
reverence  for  human  grandeur.  The  Capitol,  at  Washington,  mani- 
fests his  love  of  freedom.  The  Taj-Mahal  pretends  to  utter  no 
such  lofty  sentiments  as  these,  but  it  speaks  out,  more  naturally 
than  all,  the  gentlest,  sweetest  sentiment  of  human  nature — pure, 
spu-itual  love.  A  tale  of  love  is  written,  an  idyl  is  sung,  a  melody 
of  the  tender  passion  breathes  through  this  pure  marble  and  these 
precious  jewels.  The  tomb  of  Banoo  Begum,  in  architecture,  like 
the  apotheosis  of  Beatrice,  in  poetry,  is  without  an  ori^nal  and 
without  a  copy. 

The  Taj  is  a  modem  structure.  It  is  a  sad  reflection  that  the 
name  of  the  architect  is  already  lost.  Connoisseurs  difler  in  opin- 
ion concerning  the  style.  Some  call  it  Italian  ;  others  insist  that  it 
is  Saracenic ;  others  pronounce  it  Persian.  We  incline  to  think  it 
eclectic,  a  blending  of  the  beautiful  in  each. 

March  '^oth. — From  the  tomb  of  the  Mogul  monarch  of  India, 
Akbar,  we  passed  to  the  tomb  of  the  pretended  monarch  of  Ameri- 
ca, King  Cotton.  The  failure,  during  our  civil  war,  of  the  cotton- 
supply,  which  had  before  been  derived  from  the  United  States, 
obliged  the  European  nations  to  seek  it  elsewhere.  Notable 
attempts  to  cultivate  the  staple  were  made  in  Italy,  but  without 
success.  An  eff'ort  of  the  Viceroy  of  Egypt  was  hardly  more  eff'ect- 
ual.  India  promised  better.  Cotton  was  indigenous,  and  success- 
fully cultivated  in  the  plains  which  divide  the  Indus  from  the 
Ganges.  The  importunate  demand  of  the  European  markets 
stimulated  the  production  there.     Fortunes  were  made  by  specu- 


402 


BRITISH  INDIA. 


lation  in  cotton  almost  as  rapidly  in  Bombay  as  tliey  were  lost  in 
New  Orleans.  Agra  was  the  centre  of  the  producing  districts. 
At  the  end  of  the  war,  it  became  a  grave  question  whether  the 


COTTON   MERCHANTS,    AGE  A. 


advantage  which  had  thus  been  gained  by  India  could  be  retained, 
or  whether  the  great  monopoly  could  be  recovered  by  the  United 
States.  The  change  of  the  system  there,  from  one  of  slave  labor  to 
free  labor,  worked  to  our  prejudice,  and  doubts  still  remained,  when 
we  left  home,  concerning  the  solution  of  the  problem.  We  have 
found  that  solution  here.  The  producers  now  universally  confess 
that  the  cotton  is  greatly  inferior  to  the  American  fibre ;  they  con- 
fess, moreover,  that  the  plant  degenerates  under  the  burning  sun  of 
India,  although  they  use  the  seed  imported  from  the  United  States. 
Again,  the  efforts  to  introduce  improved  machinery  have  failed. 
We  examined  one  of  the  establishments  in  which  cotton  is  prepared 
for  the  market.  The  process  is  very  rude.  The  cotton  is  passed 
between  a  pair  of  wooden  rollers  which  are  moved  by  hand.  This 
simple  mechanism  is  found  in  every  house,  and  is  an  exclusive 


PACKING   COTTON. 


403 


occupation  of  women.  The  operation  of  packing  is  quite  as  rude : 
five  men,  with  their  feet,  trample  the  cotton  into  a  succession  of 
square  boxes,  one  above  the  other ;  five  other  men  hold  the  boxes 
in  their  places  until  the  stack  thus  raised  contains  the  complement 
of  a  bale.  An  iron  screw  is  then  let  down  through  an  upper  floor 
upon  the  centre  of  the  cotton-stack.  This  screw  is  w^orked  by 
eighty  other  men.  Each  laborer  ejaculates  or  groans  with  every 
push  that  he  gives  the  lever,  and  this  groaning,  combined  with  the 
noise  of  their  tread  upon  the  floor,  produces  an  indescribable  and 
ludicrous  confusion.  This  examination  convinced  us  that  Sir  Rich- 
ard Temple  did  not  misstate  in  the  annual  budget  the  decline  of 
cotton-production. 


THB  TAJ,   FEOM  THE   VOXTSTATS. 


CHAPTER  X. 

DELHI,    THE  MOGUL   CAPITAL. 

A  Vivid  Contrast  to  Agra.— Ludlow  Castle.— Brief  Sketch  of  Hindoo  History. — The  Per- 
sians.— The  Greeks. — The  Arabs.— Sultan  Muhmoud. — The  Mongols  or  Moguls. — 
Foundation  of  Delhi. — Successive  Changes  of  Site. — The  Kootub  Minar. — A  Singu- 
lar Iron  Shaft. — The  Mogul  Tombs. — The  Tomb  of  Jehanara. — The  Jumna  Masjid. — 
The  Imperial  Palace. — Farewell  to  Delhi. 

Ludlow  Castle,  Delhi,  March  '^Uh. — In  crossing  the  Jumna, 
the  citadel  of  Delhi  seems  to  be  directly  over  the  terminus  of  the 
railroad-bridge,  and  gives  a  fine  effect  to  the  approach.  As  first 
seen,  Delhi  is  a  vivid  contrast  to  Agra.  Akbar  wedded  Agra,  and 
died — ^like  the  Hindoo  widow,  she  has  faithfully  mourned  him  in 
decline  and  poverty  ever  since.  Delhi,  until  recently  the  capital 
of  the  Mogul  dynasty,  and  since  an  important  seat  of  British  rule, 
is  a  fickle  jade,  who  easily  transferred  her  allegiance.  We  entered 
by  the  Cashmere  gate,  and,  driving  over  a  broad  plain,  in  which  fine 
European  buildings  alternate  with  highly-cultivated  gardens,  we 
reached  Ludlow  Castle,  where  we  are  the  guests  of  the  civil  com- 
missioner of  the  district.  Colonel  Young. 

The  outside  world  derived  its  earliest  knowledge  of  India  from 
its  neighbors,  the  Persians,  who  maintained  a  vigorous  commerce 
with  Greece  in  the  time  of  Darius.  They  gave  to  the  country  its 
name  of  Hindostan,  the  land  of  the  black  men.  There  still  remain 
in  the  Andaman  Islands,  and  some  other  parts  of  India,  tribes  of 
savages,  who  are  supposed  to  be  derived  from  an  aboriginal  race 
which  possessed  the  countvy  before  the  Hindoos.     However  that 


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HINDOO   HISTORY.  .  405 

fact  may  be,  the  earliest  history  of  Hindostan  represents  the  entire 
country  from  the  Indus  to  the  border  of  Burmah,  and  from  the 
Himalayas  to  Cape  Comorin,  as  inhabited  by  one  people,  pro- 
fessing the  Bramin  faith,  although  they  must  have  been  then 
divided  into  distinct  tribes,  having  difierent  dialects.  It  was, 
however,  an  isolated  and  unsocial  nation,  such  as  Japan  and 
China  since  have  been. 

Three  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era,  Alexander  ex- 
tended his  conquest  across  the  Indus  and  to  the  banks  of  the  Hy- 
daspes  (the  Sutlej)  with  the  pm'pose  of  bringing  isolated  India  into 
the  family  of  Mediterranean  nations.  This  great  enterprise  might 
doubtless  have  been  achieved  at  that  time,  had  it  not  been  defeated 
by  the  refusal  of  the  Macedonian  army  to  go  farther.  His  suc- 
cessors quickly  lost  the  ground  he  had  gained.  The  history  of 
Hindostan,  since  that  period,  is  the  story  only  of  repetitions  of 
attempts,  like  that  of  Alexander,  for  the  conquest  of  the  country, 
favored,  like  his,  by  a  slow  process  of  internal  disintegration.  The 
propagandism  of  Buddha,  which  occurred  soon  after  the  failure  of 
the  Greek  conquest,  convulsed  the  country,  and,  arraying  its  tribes 
and  religious  sects  against  each  other,  opened  the  way  to  a  new 
invader.  Mohammed  was  a  religious  reformer  of  a  very  diiferent 
order  from  Buddha.  The  latter  propagated  by  preaching,  the 
former  by  the  sword.  In  the  reign  of  the  Caliph  Walid,  about 
715  A.  D.,  the  Arabs  invaded  Hindostan  from  the  sea,  and  con- 
quered Scinde  and  part  of  the  Punjab,  which  they  held  for  some 
years.  But  the  Hindoos,  rallying  under  the  banner  of  their  an- 
cient faith,  expelled  the  Mussulman,  though  only  with  the  conse- 
quence of  provoking  new  invasions.  Sultan  Mahmoud  advanced 
into  the  Punjab,  in  the  eleventh  century ;  and  his  successors,  con- 
quering the  whole  of  Northern  India,  and  establishing  their  capital 
at  Delhi,  extended  their  sway  across  the  Jumna  and  the  Ganges. 
These  partial  Mohammedan  conquerors  in  the  north  encouraged 
a  bolder  leader  of  the  same  faith.  In  1398,  Tamerlane  invaded 
the  country,  seized  Delhi,  and,  with  a  war  of  terrific  barbarity, 
established  that  great  Mongol  or  Mogul  Empire  which  Great  Brit- 
ain in  fact  suppressed   in    1803,  but  of  which   she   permitted   a 


406  BKITISII  INDIA. 

shadow  to  stand  until  1857.  With  the  exception  of  Akbar's  resi- 
dence at  Agra,  Delhi  was  the  capital  of  the  Mogul  Empire  until  its 
dissolution.  With  successive  changes  of  dynasty,  the  city  has  from 
time  to  time  changed  its  place  from  one  part  of  the  plain  to  another. 
So  it  has  happened  that  the  Delhi  of  to-day  is  the  last  one  of  a 
dozen  cities  which  have  successively  borne  the  same  name,  and 
enjoyed  the  honors  of  a  capital.  This  modern  Delhi  dates  from  the 
time  of  Humayoon,  the  father  of  Akbar. 

Delhi,  March  2Sth. — We  drove  yesterday  eleven  miles  across 
the  plain,  seeing  on  all  sides  the  palaces,  mosques,  and  tombs,  some 
still  erect  though  abandoned,  others  in  dilapidation,  others  mere 
debris,  which  mark  the  sites  of  the  several  capitals  which  have 
passed  away.  Among  these  relics,  stands  the  Kootub  Minar.  It 
may,  as  claimed  here,  or  may  not  be,  the  highest  pillar  in  the  world. 
We  first  saw  it  at  a  distance  of  seven  miles,  under  a  dim  twilight, 
which,  like  moonlight,  may  have  had  the  effect  of  increasing  its 
apparent  elevation.  Approaching  nearer,,  we  found  the  column  a 
circular  fluted  one  of  red  sandstone,  two  hundred  and  thirty-eight 
feet  high,  forty-seven  feet  in  diameter  at  the  base,  and  divided  into 
five  stages  or  stories,  the  base  of  each  story  ornamented  with  a 
projecting  gallery  and  balustrade.  The  heights  of  the  successive 
stories  are  graduated  in  exact  proportion  to  the  contracting  diam- 
eter of  the  column,  the  height  of  the  lower  story  being  ninety- 
four  feet,  while  that  of  the  upper  is  only  twenty-two  feet.  As  we 
looked  up  beneath  this  towering  monument,  standing  so  erect  and 
alone  in  the  broad  field  of  desolation,  it  seemed  to  us  that,  like 
Memnon  on  the  Nile,  it  might  have  a  voice,  and  so  might  tell  us 
a  long  history  of  heroic  achievements,  magnificent  designs,  and 
bitter  disappointments,  of  which  it  has  been  a  witness. 

The  Dak  is  a  government  institution  for  the  transportation  of 
passengers  and  property.  It  consists  of  carts  drawn  either  by 
horses  or  oxen,  with  changes  every  four  miles.  At  each  station  is 
the  "  dak  bungalow,"  in  which  the  traveller,  who  carries  his  om'u 
provisions  and  bed,  may  take  rest  and  refreshment.  A  pretty 
Hindoo  temple,  which  stands  under  the  shadow  of  the  Kootub,  has 


THE  KOOTUB  MINAR. 


407 


been  restored  from  a  state  of  dilapidation,  and  appropriated  to  tliat 
use.  It  served  ns  pleasantly  for  our  evening  repast,  and  gave  us 
airy  lodgings  for  the  night.  This  morning,  we  looked  from  its 
veranda  upon  the  great,  dark  column,  as  it  received  and  reflected 


TnE   KOOTUB   MINAR. 


the  rays  of  the  rising  sun.  In  this  illumination,  which  left  the  base 
in  deep  shadow,  the  monument  seemed  even  more  perfect  and 
loftier  than  it  did  on  the  night  before.  A  closer  observation,  while 
it  showed"  some  new  points  of  beauty,  revealed  also  some  defects. 
The  fluting  of  the  column  differs  at  the  several  stories.  In  the 
first  story  the  fluting  is  circular,  in  the  second  angular,  in  the  third 
the  circle  and  the  angle  alternate ;  the  fourth  story  is  of  white 
marble,  encircled  at  the  middle  with  a  belt  of  brown  sandstone ;  the 


408  BRITISH  INDIA. 

fifth  story  is  of  unmixed  white  marble.  Underneath  the  magnifi- 
cent sculptured  cornice  which  supports  the  gallery  of  each  story, 
the  column  is  boldly  carved  in  Arabic,  in  texts  from  the  Koran,  and 
in  part  recitals  of  repairs  and  improvements  made  by  different 
monarchs.  A  circular  iron  staircase  conducts  to  the  summit,  where 
the  visitor  takes  in  at  one  view  the  Jumna,  the  Delhi  of  our  time, 
and  all  the  ruined  Delhis  for  miles  and  miles  around.  How  large 
must  be  the  number  of  those  who  have  trodden  that  lofty,  spiral 
staircase,  and  how  diverse  must  have  been  their  reading  of  the 
lessons  which  that  giddy  height  aifords  !  The  recitals  mentioned, 
as  translated  by  General  Cunningham,  give  us  only  this  informa- 
tion :  that  the  erection  of  the  column  was  the  work  of  several  cen- 
turies ;  that  it  was  finished  in  1236,  one  hundred  and  sixty  years 
before  Tamerlane,  and  in  the  reign  of  Shumsh-oodeen-Altumsh, 
We  are  profoundly  grateful  for  this  information,  but  it  would  have 
saved  a  world  of  conjecture  and  research  if  the  writers  of  those  in- 
scriptions had  told  us  who  designed  and  began  the  structure,  and 
for  what  object.  "Was  it  built  as  it  now  stands  alone,  or  was  it  an 
appurtenance  to  some  temple,  or  palace,  or  mosque  which  has  long 
since  mingled  with  the  earth  ?  "Was  it,  like  the  Tower  of  Babel,  de- 
signed as  a  stairway  to  the  heavens,  or  was  it  to  be  an  observatory 
from  which  to  measure  the  magnitude  and  the  movements  of  the 
stars  ?  Is  it  a  triumphal  column,  or  is  it  a  tomb  ?  Parts  of  it  have 
been  blackened  by  the  storm,  and  even  derangecl  by  the  lightning 
and  the  earthquake.  Nevertheless,  it  stands  firmly,  and  may  en- 
dure for  many  thousand  years.  Distant  one  or  two  hundred  feet 
from  the  column  are  the  dilapidated  gates  and  walls  of  a  spacious 
mosque.  Some  imagine  the  Kootub  Minar  an  adjunct  of  that 
mosque ;  others  controvert  this  position,  while  they  maintain  that 
the  structure  for  which  the  Kootub  was  designed  to  be  an  orna- 
ment, though  projected,  was  never  built. 

There  is  a  relic,  not  far  from  the  Kootub  Minar,  of  even  greater 
antiquity,  and  more  mysterious.  It  is  a  cylindrical  iron  shaft,  six- 
teen inches  thick,  estimated  by  General  Cunningham  to  be  sixty 
feet  long,  and  to  weigh  seventeen  tons.  Excavations,  to  the  depth 
of  twenty-six  feet,  have  failed  to  find  its  lower  end,  while  its  top  is 


THE   TOMB   OF  HUMAYOON.  409 

twenty-two  feet  above  the  surface.  Tourists  cannot  safely  assume 
to  be  archaeologists.  The  accomplished  traveller  Bayard  Taylor 
says  he  learned  at  Delhi  that  an  inscription  on  the  shaft  assigns 
it  a  date  one  century  before  the  Christian  era.  If  our  guides 
translated  correctly  the  same  inscription  for  us,  it  was  erected  a.  d. 
319.  The  surroundings  of  this  monument  are  perplexing;  it 
stands  in  the  very  centre  of  an  immense  dilapidated  but  not  demol- 
ished Mohammedan  caravanserai,  palace,  or  mosque.  The  Sara- 
cenic arches  of  this  ruin  indicate,  beyond  all  mistake,  its  Moham- 
medan character ;  but,  here  comes  the  difficulty :  all  these  fine 
Moorish  arches  rest  on  rudely-wrought,  monolith  granite  columns, 
which  are  covered  with  carvings,  and  vines,  and  images  of  idols, 
and  saints.  Beyond  a  doubt  these  rough  columns  were  raised  in 
honor  of  the  thirty-three  thousand  gods  of  the  Hindoos.  We  rec- 
ognized, as  we  thought,  not  only  those  of  the  Braminical  faith,  but 
also  some  belonging  to  the  reformed  creed  of  Buddha.  But  we  could 
not  be  certain  of  this,  for  the  Mussulman  iconoclast  has  treated 
them  all  as  equally  ofiending  against  the  second  command  of  Moses. 
He  has  battered  and  defaced  them  so  efifectually  that  they  are  no 
longer  like  unto  "  any  thing  that  is  in  heaven  above,  or  that  is  in 
the  earth  beneath,  or  that  is  in  the  water  under  the  earth."  Take 
into  consideration,  now,  that  the  cross  of  St.  George  waves  over 
these  ruins,  and  we  have  a  grouping,  in  a  circumscribed  area,  of  the 
monuments  of  Braminical  worship,  Buddhist  worship,  Mohamme- 
dan worship,  and  Christian  worship  ;  the  several  religions  succeed- 
ing each  other  as  conquerors,  and  all  within  the  period  of  two 
thousand  years.  We  drove,  next,  to  a  cemetery,  which  is  compar- 
atively modern ;  alighting  here,  we  walked  through  several  narrow 
aisles  bordered  by  so  many  costly  and  beautiful  marble  cenotaphs 
that  even  the  graveyard  of  Mogul  monarchs  became  as  monotonous, 
and  the  eulogistic  Arabic  inscriptions  on  them  as  tedious,  as  the 
"  Collection  of  American  Epitaphs  and  Inscriptions,  with  Occasional 
Notes,  by  the  Eev.  Timothy  Alden,  xi.  M.,  in  two  vols.,  New  York, 
1814."  The  tomb  of  Humayoon,  however,  deserves  "special  men- 
tion," not  more  on  account  of  the  great  merit  of  that  monarch  than 
the  magnificence  of  the  monument.     The  factious  rivalry  of  Hu- 


410  BEITISn  IXDIA. 

mayoon's  brothers  invited  an  invasion  from  Afghanistan,  in  which, 
the  Mogul  emperor  was  completely  overthrown  and  Humayoon  driv- 
en into  exile.  Finding  an  asylum  in  Persia,  he  formed  an  alliance 
with  the  king  of  that  country,  who  furnished  Humayoon  an  army, 
with  which  he  returned  to  Hindostan,  resumed  the  throne  of  his 
ancestors,  and  transmitted  it  to  his  son,  the  great  Akbar.  If  there 
were  no  Taj,  nor  tomb  of  Akbar,  the  mausoleum  of  Humayoon 
might  perhaps  be  as  much  admired  as  those  monuments  are.  It  sur- 
passes each  of  them  as  well  in  vastness  as  in  massiveness.  Its  white 
marble  dome,  resting  on  arcades  of  red  sandstone,  making  a  marked 
feature  in  the  plain,  is  peculiarly  beautiful.  We  tm-ned  our  steps 
from  the  proud  mausoleum  to  a  tomb  more  rare,  and  of  a  very 
different  design.  Aurungzebe,  whose  name  is  I'endered  infamous 
by  his  cruelty,  was  a  son  of  Shah  Jehan.  He  seized  his  father's 
throne,  usurped  his  kingdom,  imprisoned  him,  and,  as  some  histori- 
ans write,  deprived  him  of  his  eyes.  His  sister,  Jehanara,  refusing 
to  enter  the  imperial  court  of  the  usurper,  remained  with  her  unfor- 
tunate father  until  his  death.  A  monument,  simple  and  beautiful 
as  her  own  character,  covers  her  remains.  The  inscription  which 
it  bears  is  said  to  have  been  written  by  herself.  We  brushed 
away  freshlj^-cut  flowers  to  look  upon  it,  all  the  time  wondering 
who  placed  them  there.  These  are  the  words  which  we  read  in 
Arabic:  "Let  no  ricli  canopy  rise  over  my  gi*ave;  the  grass  is  the 
best  covering  for  the  poor  in  spirit,  the  humble,  the  ephemeral 
Jehanara,  the  disciple  of  the  holy  men  of  Cheest,  the  daughter  of 
the  Emperor  Shah  Jehan."  We  derived  from  this  touching  memo- 
rial an  assurance  that  ages  of  superstition,  bigotry,  and  fanaticism, 
cannot  altogether  extinguish  womanly  virtue,  or  the  admiration  of 
mankind  for  it. 

March  2Sih. — Our  sight-seeing,  in  India,  is  necessarily  done  in 
the  early  morning  or  in  the  evening;  when  the  sun  is  very  low  in 
the  horizon.  Our  record  of  it  is  made  in  the  time  which  can  be 
snatched  from  society  or  necessary  rest. 

Tlie  Jumna  Musjid  derives  imposing  effect  from  its  situation  in 
the  centre  of  an  oblong  area,  on.  a  rocky  terrace,  which  extends 


THE   IMPERIAL  PALACE.  411 

from  tlie  Cashmere  gate  to  the  Delhi  gate,  and  is  approached  by 
magnificent  stone  staircases  on  three  sides — a  site  not  unlilve  tliat 
of  the  Capitol  at  Washington.  The  Jumna  Musjid  is  a  mosqne, 
two  hundred  feet  by  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet,  surmounted  by 
three  elegant  marble  cupolas  with  gilded  spires.  At  each  end  is  a 
sujierb  minaret,  built  in  alternate  lines  of  black  and  white  marble. 
The  pavement  of  the  mosque  is  of  white-marble  slabs,  each  forty- 
two  inches  by  eighteen  inches,  finished  with  an  inlaid  black-marble 
border.  Each  slab  is  a  kneeling-place  for  a  worshipper.  Like  the 
mosque  in  the  citadel  of  Agra,  the  edifice  is  called  the  "  Pearl  of 
Mosques."  We  do  not  attempt  to  comjDare  the  two.  Either  is 
more  beautiful  than  any  religious  edifice  we  have  ever  seen.  The 
Jumna  Musjid  is,  however,  the  more  highly  revered  of  the  two. 
Its  venerable  custodian  showed  us  relics  of  the  greatest  possible 
sanctity.  Among  them  are  a  pair  of  shoes  which  were  worn  by  the 
prophet,  and  one  hair  saved  from  his  beard !  Both  of  these  inesti- 
mable treasures  are  carefully  preserved  in  antique  glass  cases.  We 
cannot  undertake  to  vouch  for  the  genuineness  of  that  hair,  but  we 
must  confess  that  the  shrivelled  and  rotten  leather  makes  out  a 
strong  claim  for  the  genuineness  of  the  shoes. 

There  is,  however,  a  relic,  the  authenticity  of  which  can  hardly 
be  disputed.  It  is  a  devotional  autograph  manuscript  of  Fatima, 
the  fiithful  and  favorite  daughter  of  Mohammed. 

The  first  accounts  of  the  mutiny  of  '57  that  went  abroad  attrib- 
uted it  to  a  discontent  on  the  part  of  the  Hindoos.  From  inquiries 
here,  we  have  no  doubt  that  it  was  an  insurrectionary  attempt  of 
the  Mohammedans.  Ever  since  its  suppression.  Government  has 
forbidden  public  worship  in  the  Jumna  Musjid. 

Here,  as  at  Agra,  the  Imperial  Palace  is  within  the  walls  of  the 
citadel.  It  is  in  complete  preservation,  and  is  an  additional  monu- 
ment of  the  exquisite  taste  and  munificence  of  Shah  Jehan,  the 
builder  of  the  Taj.  Its  prominent  parts  are  one  greater  and  one 
lesser  "  audience-hall."  Each  of  these  is  of  polished  white  mar- 
ble, entirely  open  in  front,  and  placed  at  such  a  height  as  to 
afford  the  emperor,  sitting  on  the  throne,  not  merely  a  view  of 
the  surrounding  audience,  but  also  a  view  of  the  procession  of  his 

32 


412  BRITISH   INDIA. 

vassals  as  they  entered  the  great  palace-gates,  with  all  their  gorge- 
ous displays  of  music,  soldiers,  camels,  and  elephants.  A  polished 
white-marble  throne,  in  each  audience-chamber,  is  raised  on  a  dais, 
six  or  seven  feet  high,  of  the  same  material.  A  pure  white-marble 
canopy,  supported  by  delicate  Saracenic  pillars,  lends  this  structure 
a  peculiar  grace.  Both  of  these  halls  have  been  despoiled  of  the 
decorations  which  first  aroused  the  attention  of  Europe  to  the  mar- 
vellous splendor  of  the  Mogul  Empire.  The  solid  silver  plates  of 
the  great  audience-chamber  have  been  stripped  from  the  ceiling, 
and  sold  in  the  market  in  London  for  one  hundred  and  seventy 
thousand  pounds  sterling.  The  lesser  chamber  has  been  robbed  of 
the  famous  "  peacock-throne,"  in  the  construction  of  which  Shah 
Jehan  expended  six  milUoji  pounds  sterling.  The  frescos  of  birds 
and  flowers  on  the  polished  marble  walls  are  now  dim — certainly 
they  must  always  have  been  a  blemish.  If,  however,  white  marble 
and  fresco  are  incongruous,  it  must  be  admitted  that  white  marble 
and  yellow  gold,  arranged  in  just  proportions,  form  the  most  effec- 
tive of  all  ornamental  combinations.  Such  is  the  fretwork  which 
adorns  the  capitals,  cornices,  and  flutings  of  the  columns  and  pilas- 
ters. The  architect  of  the  palace  seems  to  have  been  enamoured 
of  his  own  creation,  for  he  wrote,  on  each  angle  of  the  lesser  audi- 
ence-chamber, the  words  which  Moore  has  made  familiar  to  all  the 
world  in  "  Lalla  Rookh : " 

"If  there  be  an  Elysium  on  earth, 
It  is  this,  it  is  this." 

Let  us  drop  mathematical  lines  and  arithmetical  measure- 
ments, and  try  to  convey  in  another  way  an  idea  of  the  palace  of 
Shah  Jehan.  Can  any  one  conceive  a  nobler  spectacle  than  an 
inauguration  of  a  President  of  the  United  States,  under  the  eastern 
portico  of  the  Capitol?  Does  any  one  know  any  thing  in  the 
world  more  shabby  than  the  broad  staging  of  plank  and  scantling 
on  which  the  august  ceremony  is  performed  ?  The  silver  ceiling 
and  the  "peacock-throne"  have  been  removed  from  the  throne- 
room  at  Delhi.  We  would  rub  oif  now  the  gilding  and  the  fres- 
cos on  the  walls.     Having  thus  reduced  the  magnificent  room  to 


ENGLISH  KINDNESS.  '  413 

its  original  simplicity,  we  would  commend  it  to  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  as  a  model  stage  for  the  inauguration-ceremony. 
Bayard  Taylor,  more  fortunate  than  we,  saw  the  Mogul  palace 
while  it  yet  was  the  residence  of  the  last  of  the  successors  of  Akbar. 
The  mutineers  of  '57,  inflated  with  their  first  success,  proclaimed 
the  restoration  of  the  empire.  That  stipendiary  yielded  to  ambi- 
tious persuasion.  He  was  quickly  overthrown,  stripped  of  allow- 
ances, state,  and  possessions ;  and  we  find  that  his  heirs,  loyal  to 
the  British  Government,  are  now  content  with  the  honor  of  show- 
ing us,  as  guides,  the  splendor  of  the  halls  and  tombs  of  their 
ancestors. 

Delhi  shares  with  Lahore  the  commerce  of  the  western  and 
northern  provinces,  Afghanistan,  Cashmere,  and  Persia.  It  seems 
likely  therefore  to  remain,  as  it  is,  a  great  and  populous  city.  The 
streets  are  often  rendered  impassable  by  heterogeneous  caravans. 
The  shops  contain  fabrics,  tissues,  and  jewelry,  of  exquisite  richness, 
and  adapted  to  every  variety  of  Oriental  taste. 

Our  study  of  Delhi  closed,  to-day,  with  a  visit  to  the  heights  to 
which  the  British  army  retired,  when  driven  out  of  the  palace  of 
Shah  Jehan,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  mutiny.  They  remained 
here  six  months,  successfully  resisting  the  surprises  and  sorties  of 
the  insurgents  in  the  city — twenty  times  their  number.  At  last, 
being  reenforced,  they  became  assailants,  stormed  the  citadel,  and 
recovered  the  capital. 

Here  we  leave  our  host,  and  the  learned  companion  of  our  ex- 
plorations. Colonel  Young.  American  travellers  are  apt  to  ima- 
gine that  Englishmen  whom  they  meet  are  cold,  if  not  churlish. 
Nothing  could  be  farther  from  this  than  our  experience  in  India, 
and,  in  looking  back  through  all  that  experience,  we  find  no  more 
agreeable  remembrance  than  that  of  "Ludlow  Castle,"  and  of  the 
hearty  welcome  and  courteous  hospitality  we  received  there. 


CHAPTER  XL 

UMBALLA   AND  PUTTEE  ALA. 

Meerut,  the  Scene  of  the  Outbreak  of  the  Great  Mutiny. — Hindoo  Pilgrims.— First  View 
of  the  Himalayas. — Invitations  to  Putteeala. — Journey  thither. — The  City  of  Put- 
teeala. — Coaches  or  Elephants  '? — Entrance  into  Putteeala. — A  Magnificeut  Proces 
sion. — Our  Palace. 

Umhalla,  March  SOth. — Leaving  Delhi,  yesterday  morning,  we 
recrossed  the  Jumna  and  its  valley  by  a  bridge  and  long  causeway 
to  the  station  of  Gazeabad.  Thence  we  made  our  way  through  a 
sea  of  golden  wheat-fields,  dotted  with  islands  of  blooming  mango- 
trees — one  hundred  and  fifty  miles — to  this  place.  We  stopped  at 
Meerut,  a  garrison-town,  made  memorable  by  being  the  scene  of  the 
outbreak  of  the  mutiny.  That  great  disaster  left  at  Meerut  no  such 
painful  traces  or  touching  monuments  as  are  seen  at  Cawnpore, 
Lucknow,  and  Delhi. 

The  common  roads  parallel  with  the  railroad,  for  a  distance  of 
twenty  miles  above  Meerut,  were  thronged  with  travellers,  chiefly 
men  and  children,  of  all  castes  and  classes — save  only  the  poor  pari- 
ahs, each  troop  attended  by  musicians,  their  costumes  diverse  in 
form  and  color.  The  greater  number  were  pedestrians,  but  others 
rode  the  native  ponies,  donkeys,  camels,  and  elephants,  A  few 
showed  a  special  pride  as  they  came  along  in  gayly-decorated  carts 
drawn  by  clean  white  oxen  decked  with  ribbons  and  garlands. 
The  long  processions  which  Dublin  sent  out  to  Donnybrook  on 
the  days  of  its  fair;  the  multitude  which  throngs  the  road  from 


INVITATIONS  TO   PUTTEEALA.  415 

London  to  Epsom  on  the  "Derby-day;"  the  processions  which 
come  with  music  and  banners  from  New-England  villages  to  a 
"mass-meeting;"  or  the  ith  of  July  in  Boston,  never  exhibited 
more  eager  excitement,  or  half  so  much  method,  or  a  tithe  of  the 
good-nature,  which  these  Hindoos  showed  as  they  trudged  along, 
coming  from  all  parts  of  Hindostan,  to  attend  a  Braminical  festival 
at  Hurdwar,  which  is  to  be  improved  by  being  used  also  as  a  great 
horse-fair. 

At  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  we  obtained  a  first  view  of  the 
Himalaya  Mountains,  stretching  in  a  long,  blue,  hazy  outline  in  the 
horizon,  sixty  miles  distant.  Major  Tigh,  commissioner  for  the 
district,  met  us  at  the  station,  and  brought  us  to  his  fine  old  bun- 
galow, situated  in  a  beautiful  park.  An  Irishman,  he  retains 
equally  the  warm-heartedness  and  the  7iaivete  of  his  countrymen. 

Putteeala,  March  2>\st. — Immediately  after  our  arrival  at 
Umballa,  a  native  gentleman  presented  himself  to  Major  Tigh,  and, 
announcing  himself  as  "canal  agent"  for  the  Maharajah  of  Put- 
teeala,  asked  to  be  presented  to  Mr.  Seward.  Before  the  latter  had 
time  to  answer,  a  second  native  appeared,  and,  declaring  himself  to 
be  the  maharajah's  "Minister  of  Justice,"  asked  to  be  introduced. 
They  were  admitted,  and  each  presented  a  letter  of  invitation  from 
the  Maharajah  of  Putteeala  tendering  us  the  hospitalities  of  his 
state,  elegantly  written  in  Arabic  on  gilt  paper,  the  envelop  being 
a  bag  of  the  finest  kincob.  The  bag,  as  well  as  the  notes,  was  per- 
fumed with  attar  of  roses.  The  bag  was  tied  with  a  silken  cord,  on 
which  was  suspended  the  great  waxen  seal  (weighing  four  ounces) 
of  the  kingdom,' principality,  or  state,  of  Putteeala.  Yesterday,  at 
five  o'clock  p.  M.,  we  proceeded  in  four  carriages,  each  drawn  by 
four  horses,  which  the  prince  had  sent  to  convey  us  to  his  capital. 
We  were  attended  by  his  two  messengers,  the  musteed  (canal- 
agent)  and  the  minister  of  justice,  a  large  military  escort,  and  many 
servants.  Captain  Horsford,  of  the  British  civil  service,  accom- 
panied us.  At  stages  of  one  mile  each,  mounted  sentinels  first 
saluted  us,  and  then  joined  our  escort.  The  maharajah's  high  civil 
ofiicers  wore  the  finest  of  white  India  muslin  turbans  and  robes. 


416  BEITISH  II^DIA. 

and  his  soldiers  were  arrayed  in  green,  gold,  and  scarlet,  as  brightly 
as  the  birds  of  India. 

The  Emperor  Akbar  and  his  successors  made  excellent  roads, 
and  at  convenient  stages  built  caravanserais  for  the  security  and 
rest  of  travellers.  These  hostelries,  each  of  Which  is  a  fortification, 
are  still  well  preserved.  We  stopped  at  the  half-way  caravanserai, 
and  were  met  there  by  a  large  deputation  of  the  maharajah's  house- 
hold, in  dainty  costumes,  similar  to  those  worn  by  his  messengers. 
These  deputies,  surrounded  by  sixty  or  seventy  servants,  tendered 
us  congratulations,  in  the  name  of  his  highness,  on  our  safe  arrival 
thus  far  on  our  journey.  Each  individual  member  of  these  delega- 
tions presented  to  each  one  of  us,  on  a  massive  silver  salver,  cov- 
ered with  a  white  napkin,  a  half-dozen  silver  coins,  and  a  fresh 
bouquet.  As  instructed,  we  touched  these  coins  as  acknowledg- 
ment of  mutual  friendship,  and  retained  the  flowers.  This  cere- 
mony was  followed  by  a  profuse  supply  of  delicate  refreshments. 
In  the  midst  of  these  attentions,  a  telegram  from  Putteeala  an- 
nounced that  the  British  Ministers  of  Finance  and  Foreign  Affairs 
for  the  district  of  Punjab  were  just  leaving  the  town,  and  would 
desire  to  pay  their  respects  to  Mr.  Seward  when  they  should  meet 
him.  When  we  had  gone  a  few  miles  on  our  way,  those  distin- 
guished personages,  with  their  families,  came  rolling  along  in  four 
four-horse  carriages,  and  an  escort — both  the  equipages  and  guard 
having  been  furnished  by  the  maharajah,  and  being  exactly  on  the 
same  magnificent  scale  as  those  by  which  we  were  conducted. 
Greetings  were  exchanged,  and  a  cordial  invitation  was  given  to 
Mr.  Seward  to  extend  his  journey  to  Lahore,  the  capital  of  the 
Punjab. 

Putteeala,  the  capital  of  the  province  or  native  principality  of 
the  same  name^  is  protected  by  a  citadel  as  spacious,  though  not  so 
substantially  or  scientifically  constructed,  as  Fort  Hamilton.  Forti- 
fications in  India  seem  to  have  been  built  as  retreats  or  places  of 
safety  for  the  sovereign  or  his  family.  The  mother  of  the  present 
prince  resides  in  the  citadel  of  Putteeala.  Arriving  at  its  gate,  we 
came  to  a  halt,  and  we  saw  through  a  cloud  of  dust  the  maharajah 
coming  toward  us  in  a  magnificent  state  coach  drawn  by  six  white 


ELEPHANT-EIDING.  417 

horses ;  the  highway,  on  either  side,  was  lined  with  outriders  and 
a  squadron  of  cavah-y.     The  prince,  driving  by  the  side  of  our 
carriage,  paluted  Mr.   Seward  with  stately  cordiality.     AVhen  the 
compliments  were  ended,   the  maharajah    asked  Mr.  Seward   in 
which  manner  he  would  prefer  to  make  his  entrance  into  the  capi- 
tal ;    whether  he  would  go  with  him  in  his  coach,  or  whether  he 
would  be  pleased  to  make  his  entrance  on  the  back  of  an  elephant. 
Mr.  Seward,  diffident  perhaps  of  his  skill  in  the  latter  mode  of 
travel,  or  acting  under  a  conviction  that  modesty  best  becomes  a 
visitor,  accepted  the  offer  of  a  seat  in  the  coach.     The  maharajah, 
taking  his  seat  at  Mr.  Seward's  left,  made  a  rapid  advance  toward 
the  city.     The  ladies,  like  Mr.  Seward,  being  complimented  with 
the  same  choice  of  manner  of  entering  the  city,  decided  like  Mr. 
Seward  in  favor  of  a  comfortable  coach-and-six.     Hereupon  a  halt 
and  parley  ensued  between    Captain  Horsford   and   the  prince's 
master  of  ceremonies.     In   the  course  of  this  debate,  it  appeared 
that,  while  the  prince  excused  Mr.  Seward's  declination  ot  the 
honor  of  the  elephant  on  the  ground  of  his  years,  the  ladies,  who 
could  offer  no  such  plea,  would  give  offence  by  claiming  the  same 
indulgence.     Sixty  elephants  stood  by  the  road-side,  richly  capari- 
soned in  cloth  of  gold  and  scarlet,  all  ornamented  with  gilt  ear- 
rings and  necklaces.     There  was  no  more  to  be  said  on  that  ques- 
tion.    The  elephants  kneeled,  silver  ladders  were  placed  against 
their  sides,  and,  in  less  time  than  it  takes  to  describe  the  action, 
the  two  ladies,  not  venturing  to  ride  alone,  were  seated  together 
with  Captain  Horsford,  in  the  spacious  gilded  and  velvet  howdah. 
The  elephant  arose  with  a  motion  like  that  of  the  surge  on  the 
coast  of  Madras,  and  the  ladies  found  themselves  in  the  upper  air. 
The  Hindoo  driver  sits  on  the  elephant's  head,  and  directs  his 
motions  by  the  use  of  an  iron  spike,  which  he  thrusts  against  the 
skin   on   either   side   of    the   forehead.      A   procession   was   then 
formed.     First,  the  maharajah  with  Mr.  Seward  ;  then  the  ladies  ; 
next,  our  three  servants,  Jeanie,  Price,  and  Freeman ;   next,  the 
musteed ;    next,  the   Minister  of   Justice,  mounted  in   the  same 
manner,  and  behind  them  the  long  train  of  elephants   without 
any  riders,  and   the   five  hundred  richly-caparisoned   horses,  led 


418  BRITISH  IXDIA. 

by  as  many  grooms  no  less  gayly  dressed.  As  a  signal  for  the 
progress  to  begin,  the  air  was  rent  by  a  salvo  of  nineteen  guns ; 
the  salute  was  repeated  by  a  fusillade  from  what  seemed  endless 
ranks  of  infantry,  bugles  sounded  a  march,  and  the  cavalry 
moved  to  the  front.  Four  bands  of  music  wheeled  into  column, 
playing,  more  or  less  together,  "  God  save  the  Queen  !  "  Behind 
them  a  company  of  fifty  bagpipers,  playing  not  altogether,  as 
they  fell  into  line,  "  Bonnie  Dundee."  At  the  moment  of  the 
cannonade  the  led  horses  kicked,  pranced,  and  reared;  the  ele- 
phants uttered  piteous,  deep,  indescribable  cries,  and  tried  to 
prick  up  their  enormous  jewelled  ears,  remaining  otherwise  quiet ; 
crowds  on  the  wayside  shouted  applause,  and  children  screamed 
with  delight.  As  for  Mr.  Seward,  he,  fortunate  gentleman,  snugly 
seated  by  the  maharajah  on  velvet  cushions,  in  the  coach  drawn 
by  six  well-trained  animals,  was  unconscious  of  the  disturbance 
which  had  arisen  behmd  him.  His  inexperienced  and  more  ven- 
turesome companions  clung  to  each  other  in  fright — but  order 
was  restored,  and  all  were  reassured.  On  the  way  to  his  capi- 
tal, the  maharajah  addressed  to  Mr.  Seward  a  studied  speech 
of  welcome.  Taking  care  to  express  his  regret  that  his  guest  had 
not  accepted  the  elephant,  the  prince  said  that  the  troops  we  had 
passed  in  review  were  ten  thousand  in  number.  He  also  explained 
to  Mr.  Seward  that,  when  he  came  to  the  throne,  he  found  no 
streets  in  Putteeala  wide  enough  for  such  a  pageant  as  he  had  occa- 
sion to  make,  and  that  he  had,  therefore,  enlarged  the  streets,  but 
not  without  making  due  compensation  to  the  owners  of  adjacent 
property.  Night  came  on  as  we  reached  the  gates.  We  looked 
from  our  howdahs  upon  the  flat  roofs  of  the  dwellings  and  shops  be- 
low us.  Their  inmates  were  gathered  at  the  doors  in  gay  dresses, 
and  seemed  as  diminutive  as  the  burghers  of  Liliput.  Thus  we 
passed  through  the  entire  city,  and  reached,  beyond  the  farther 
gate,  an  esplanade  used  as  a  Cainpus  Martius.  Winding  around 
a  tall  flag-staif,  under  the  folds  of  what  is  called  the  sacred  banner, 
we  stopped  before  a  lofty  Saracenic  gate.  Here,  the  maharajah, 
with  Mr.  Seward,  alighted,  and  the  elephant-riders  dismounted. 
The  prince  led  the  way  on  a  gravelled  walk,  by  the  side  of  sue- 


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A  COSY  PALACE.  419 

cessive  fountains,  in  an  orange  and  lemon  garden,  as  it  seemed,  of 
boundless  extent.  Each  fountain  poured  over  a  cascade  into  the 
next.  These  cascades  were  illumined  by  torch-lights  from  behind, 
which  imparted  to  the  jets  all  the  hues  of  the  rainbow.  We 
stopped  at  the  porch  of  a  small  Saracenic  palace.  The  prince, 
taking  Mr,  Seward  by  the  hand,  led  him  up  a  gentle  flight  of  steps, 
across  a  veranda,  into  a  salon  which  may  be  eighty  by  forty  feet, 
and  thirty  feet  high,  the  ceiling  supported  by  a  double  row  of  col- 
umns, and  the  walls  draped  with  orange  and  scarlet  silks.  "  This 
palace,"  said  the  maharajah,  "  is  yours ;  this  is  the  hall  in  which 
you  will  sit,  these  apartments  on  either  side  of  it  are  the  rooms  in 
which  you  will  sleep.  You  must  be  weary  with  your  journey,  I 
beg  to  take  my  leave  for  the  night.  I  shall  have  the  honor  to  visit 
you  to-morrow  morning." 

The  ladies  were  not  slow  in  exploring  the  cosy  little  palace. 
Its  lights,  furniture,  and  ornamentation,  are  an  Oriental  exaggera- 
tion of  the  Euroj^ean  style.  The  welcome  dinner,  though  prepared 
by  a  French  hand,  and  graced  with  the  best  wines  of  France,  Ger- 
many, and  Portugal,  was  served  by  Hindoos,  who,  dressed  in  flow- 
ing white  gowns,  glided  noiselessly  in  bare  feet  over  the  velvet 
carpet.  It  was  evident,  as  he  himself  said,  that  the  Prince  of  Put- 
teeala  is  not  like  those  "people"  whom  we  see  in  Calcutta.  As 
for  the  ladies,  they  expressed  a  doubt  whether  the  story  of  Aladdin 
is  indeed  a  fiction. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

PVTTEEALA   {Continued). 

Oriental  Displays  and  Diversions. — The  Menagerie. — The  Prisons. — The  Heir-Apparent. — 
An  Elephant  Fight. — Jesters  and  Jugglers. — The  Royal  Palace. — Magnificence  of  the 
Maharajah. — The  Durbar. — The  Young  Prince. — Superb  Presents. — A  Magnificeut 
Salon. — The  Maharajah's  Conversation  with  Mr.  Seward. — An  Exhibition  of  Fire- 
works. 

Ajyrll  1st. — This  lias  been  a  day  of  bewildering  succession 
of  Oriental  displays  and  diversions.  The  Minister  of  Public 
Works  came  before  breakfast,  and  attended  us  to  the  inevi- 
table menagerie.  The  aviaries,  though  full,  are  inferior  to  those  of 
the  King  of  Oude.  We  saw,  for  the  first  time,  the  long-legged, 
awkward,  brown  cassowary,  whose  name  rhymes  to  "missionary" 
in  the  witty  verse  where  "  Timbuctoo  "  finds  its  answer  in  "  hymn- 
book  too."  The  tiger  collection  is  very  fine,  many  of  the  animals 
of  huge  size  and  quite  untamed.  From  the  cages  of  wild  beasts 
we  passed  to  the  cages  of  wild  men,  the  state-prison  of  Putteeala.  It 
covers  an  area  of  four  acres,  enclosed  by  a  low  adobe  wall.  There 
are  eight  hundred  and  twenty-five  prisoners,  chiefly  convicted  of 
the  crimes  of  arson  and  burglary ;  of  these,  only  one  hundred 
and  fifty  can  read  and  write.  Two  hundred  convicts  are  impris- 
oned in  other  parts  of  the  province.  Imprisonment  is  generally 
for  a  term  of  one,  two,  three,  or  seven  years,  occasionally  for  life. 
Capital  punishment  is  inflicted  only  for  murder.  The  population 
of  the  city  of  Putteeala  is  eighty  thousand,  and  that  of  the  ancient 


A  LITTLE   PRINCE.  421 

kingdom  or  principality  is  two  millions,  and  yet  there  has  been  no 
capital  execution  in  two  years.     The  prisoners  are  neither  confined 
in  separate  cells,  nor  do  they  live  together.     Those  of  each  caste 
work,  sleep,  and  eat,  in  different  divisions  of  the  building ;  the 
odious  distinction  of  caste  is  preserved  nowhere  more  absolutely 
than  here.     The  pariahs,  outcasts  everywhere  in  common  life,  are 
equally  segregated  in    prison,  and  subjected  if  possible  to  a  lower 
humiliation.     All  are  heavily  ironed,  and  are  guarded  by  an  armed 
police  of  three  hundred  men.     Their  labor  is  either  hard  or  light, 
according  to  the  grade  of  their  offence.     Hard  labor  consists  of 
gi-inding  grain  with  a  hand-mill;  light  labor   is  weaving  cai'pet, 
making  shoes,  pottery-ware,  and  the  like.     Our  labor-reformers  in 
the  United  States  may  find  a  new  argument  for  their  claims  in  the 
fact  that,  by  the  laws  of  Putteeala,  five  hours  are  a  full  day's  work. 
The  prisoners  have  native  medical  attendance,  but  no  religious  or 
secular  instruction.      The  products  of  the  prison  are  sold  in  the 
markets,  and  nearly  defray  its  expenses,  which  average  fourteen 
cents  a  day  for  each  convict.     We  found  at  the  prison-gate,  as  we 
came  out,  a  train  of  elephants  kneeling  for  onr  service,  but  we 
respectfully  declined  the  honor.     On  the  way  homeward,  we  met  a 
small  boy  in  a  gilded  coach,  with  postilions  and  outriders.     He 
was  so  richly  arrayed  and  superbly  attended,  that  we  at  once  con- 
jectured him  to  be  the  heir-apparent.     It  was  fortunate  that  we 
saluted  him  as  such ;  for  the  minister  who  attended  us  afterward 
informed  us  that  the  little  lad  had  been  sent  out  to  meet  Mr. 
Seward,  and  was  attended  by  the  entire  ministry.     We  breakfasted 
alone  in  our  little  palace,  at  ten  o'clock.     The  maharajah  came  at 
eleven.     He  invited  Mr.  Seward  and  the  ladies  to  a  grand  durbar. 
The  English  ladies  whom  we  have  met  in  India  have  declared  to 
us  that  they  decline  to  receive  native  princes,  on  the  ground  that 
the  ladies  of  India  decline  to  receive  gentlemen  in  the  zenanas. 
The  reason  given  for  this  seclusion  of  women  is,  that  a  general 
intercourse  with  society  would  be  immoral  and  unbecoming  the 
dignity  of  the  sex.     But  we  are  inclined  to  think  that  Christian 
women  who   thus  refuse  to  recognize   the   native  gentlemen  are 
in  fact  adopting  the  bad  customs  and  manners  of  India,  instead 


422  '  BRITISH  INDIA. 

of  commending  our  own  better  morals  and  manners  to  the  people 
of  that  country.  The  j)rince's  invitation  was  accepted.  He 
seemed  to  have  only  just  taken  his  leave,  when  we  were  summoned 
to  meet  him  at  the  pavilion  at  the  centre  gate.  Here  he  con- 
ducted us  up  a  winding  staircase,  and  gave  us  seats  in  a  balcony, 
which  overlooks  the  esplanade.  He  performed  this  courtesy  in  a 
manner  which  showed  that  he  fully  understands  the  Western 
sentiment  of  respect  for  women.  He  afterward  took  care  to 
explain  to  us,  through  the  prime-minister,  his  regret  that  the  pre- 
vailing and  uncompromising  religious  sentiment  of  the  country 
prevented  him  from  introducing  the  Western  social  customs  into 
his  own  family.  He  has  two  wives,  neither  of  whom  has  ever  seeti 
a  foreigner,  man  or  woman,  nor  has  ever  met  even  a  countryman 
of  her  own,  other  than  the  nearest  blood  relations.  The  prince 
added  that,  before  the  Mohammedan  conquest,  the  women  of  his 
own  royal  house  were  more  distinguished  for  political  ability  and 
energy  than  the  men.     A  strange  remark  for  an  Oriental. 

The  entertainment  to  which  we  had  come  was  an  elephant- 
fight.  Two  enormous  combatants  were  brought  on  the  field. 
They  came  with  manifest  reluctance.  Their  tusks  had  been  cut 
away  half  their  length,  and  the  stumps  v/ere  bound  with  brass. 
They  fought  by  pushing  their  broad  foreheads  against  each  other, 
and  by  crowding  with  the  shortened  tusks.  It  was  seen,  after 
one  short  encounter,  that  one  animal  was  more  powerful  than  the 
other.  The  weaker  retreated.  No  effort  his  keeper  made  could 
encourage  him  to  renew  the  contest,  nor  could  any  urging  by  the 
driver  of  the  victorious  beast  induce  him  to  pursue  his  advantage. 
The  prince  dismissed  these  combatants,  or  rather  non-combatants, 
with  disgust,  and  caused  them  to  be  immediately  replaced  by  two 
other  animals  of  equally  gigantic  size.  They  fought  in  the  same 
way  as  the  first,  and  with  about  the  same  result,  except  that  the 
vanquished  animal  in  this  case  retreated  quite  out  of  the  arena, 
while  the  conqueror  was  with  much  difficulty  held  back  from  pur- 
suit. These  latter  contestants  gave  place  in  their  turn  to  two  others, 
and  the  form  of  the  combat  varied.  With  their  trunks,  they  clasped 
each  other  by  the  head,  and,  thus  embraced,  they  continued  a  battle 


JESTEES  AND  JUGGLERS. 


428 


until  one  became  so  worried  and  exhausted  that  he  gave  up  the 
contest.  The  maharajah  said,  "  These  elephants  are  good  fight- 
ers, but  the  heat  overpowers  them."  TVe  agreed  with  him  about 
the  temperatm-e,  while  we  thought  the  performance  of  the  poor 
beasts  needed  no  apology.  The  prince  now  took  his  leave,  and  we 
retm-ned  to  our  palace,  and  took  our  seats  on  the  veranda  under  a 
canopy  of  Cashmere  shawls,  supported  by  silver  staiFs,  the  fountains 
gurgling  at  our  feet.  Two  court-jesters  appeared  before  us,  and  in 
the  Hindoo  language  went  through  a  rehearsal  of  drolleries  and 
pantomimes,  which  seemed  to  us  not  unworthy  of  Dan  Eice  or 
G.  L.  Fox.     They  gave  place  to  an  acrobat,  who,  although  eighty 


\^v-^T-r 


ii'ii'  :  i:iri:i,iii:iiiiiiii|i 


A  CONJITKOB  AT  PUTTEEALA. 


years  old,  displayed  prodigious  strength  and  agility.  "With  a  long 
sword  in  hand,  he  turned  a  double  somersault,  cutting  a  betel-nut 
in  two  parts.     Although  these  performances  were  ordered  for  our 


424:  BEITISir  IXDIA. 

own  party,  they  soon  attracted  a  crowd  of  native  spectators,  wlio 
manifested  a  higher  appreciation  for  them  than  we  did.  We  en- 
joyed much  more  highly  their  rapt  attention ;  but  the  j)i'ime 
minister  would  have  no  such  vulgar  intrusion.  The  admiring 
crowd  was  dispersed.  Then  came  on  another  sport,  a  company 
of  jugglers,  one,  a  young  man  who  performed  feats  with  a  goat 
and  a  monkey ;  another,  a  very  old  and  eccentric  Sikh,  with 
long,  white  hair,  and  eyes  as  large  and  sunken  as  those  of 
Daniel  Webster.  He  seemed  a  man  to  whom  we  should  pay  our 
homage,  rather  than  one  who  should  be  required  to  cater  to  our 
amusement.  His  achievement  was  to  make  a  pigeon  fire  a  mimic 
cannon.  The  ordnance  was  duly  loaded  and  primed.  It  went  off, 
bat,  in  the  act,  the  gentle  gunner  rose  into  the  air,  and  went  off  too. 
The  string  of  his  captivity  had  fallen  from  his  feet.  He  perched  on 
the  palace-roof.  The  poor  old  man  tried  in  vain  to  entice  him 
down.  He  appealed  to  the  new  audience  which  had  gathered 
round,  but  no  assistance  could  be  given.  The  juggler  became 
inconsolable ;  when  he  saw  his  loss,  he  assumed  an  attitude  as 
piteous  as  that  of  "  Rip  Van  Winkle  "  when  he  discovers  the 
absence  of  his  faithful  "  Schneider." 

Next  came  a  musical  band,  which  gave  us  a  concert  on  native 
instruments,  playing  their  pensive  airs,  which  we  thought  at  first 
so  unintelligible,  but  which  we  now  find  pleasing,  sometimes  quite 
touching.  The  gamut  is  like  our  own,  of  eight  tones,  but  in  play- 
ing or  singing  a  melody,  called  ranc]^  they  use  all  the  semi-tones, 
so  that  the  performance  is  a  chromatic  succession  of  notes,  and  you 
have  to  guess  which  of  the  accentuated  tones  speak  the  air.  Sud- 
denly, at  the  prime  minister's  command,  this  series  of  diversions 
came  to  an  end,  and  all  the  performers,  musicians,  jesters,  jugglers, 
acrobats,  and  fools,  disappeared.  Thereupon  sixty  thorough-bred 
Arabian,  Persian,  Australian,  and  African  horses,  came  before  us 
for  inspection.  They  were  gorgeously  caparisoned,  with  silken 
bridles,  golden  trimmings,  kincob  and  velvet  robes,  and  housings 
of  India  cashmere.  Thev  wore  also  o;old  ear-rinses  and  necklaces 
and  bangles.  One  of  them,  which  is  claimed  to  be  the  fastest  horse 
in  India,  borrows  the  name  "Hermit"  from  the  great  English 


THE   MAHARAJAH'S  PALACE.  425 

courser.      The  fantastical  grooms  manifested  scarcely  less  pride 
than  the  horses  themselves  in  showing  their  fine  points. 

"What  wonder  that  we  now  thought  the  princely  exhibition  was 
ended  ?  It  was  not,  though.  We  were  summoned  again  to  our 
seats  in  the  pavilion  at  the  gate.  Two  elephants  came  into  the 
area  with  their  calves — one  of  these  born  since  the  captivity  of  the 
cow,  the  other  made  a  captive  with  its  mother  in  the  jungle.  Few 
persons,  perhaps,  can  imagine  how  skilfully  the  little  animal  throws 
back  its  trunk,  while  taking  its  nutriment.  The  calf  that  was 
"native  here,  and  to  the  manner  born,"  was  bold  and  indifierent, 
the  other  timid  and  frightened.  Its  cries  were  almost  human,  and 
the  mother's  manner  of  soothing  it  not  less  so. 

At  five  o'clock,  Mr,  Seward,  the  ladies,  Captain  Horsford,  and 
servants,  were  duly  mounted  in  gorgeous  howdahs  on  elephants, 
Mr.  Seward  being  raised  to  his  liowdah  in  a  gilded  palanquin. 
Notwithstanding  our  previous  experience,  wc  all  felt  insecure  in 
our  exaltation.  "While  the  elephants  rose  to  their  feet,  we  held  fast 
to  the  arms  of  our  howdahs,  very  much  as  the  landsman  grasps  the 
bulwark  of  a  ship  in  a  high  sea.  Our  animals  marched  three 
abreast,  covering  the  entire  pavement  of  the  widened  streets. 
With  the  careful  help  of  numberless  supple  grooms,  the  party  came 
safely  to  the  foot  of  the  broad  staircase  within  the  court  of  the 
palace,  except  that,  on  our  calling  the  roll.  Freeman  did  not  answer. 
He,  like  the  rest,  was  mounted  on  an  elephant,  but  was  left  behind. 

The  palace  is  built  on  the  sides  of  a  quadrangle,  is  four  stories 
high,  and  is  quite  imposing.  A  battalion  of  infantry  jDresented 
arms,  and  a  ringing  blast  from  the  bugles  of  a  squadron  of  cavalry 
gi'eeted  us  as  we  entered  the  court.  While  we  were  dismounting-, 
a  brass  band  played  the  ever-favorite  national  anthem  in  honor  of 
Mr.  Seward,  and  the  bagpipers  followed  with  "  Annie  Laurie  "  in 
honor  of  the  ladies.  We  have  heretofore  described  the  masTiifi- 
cence  of  the  attire  of  the  Maharajah  of  Putteeala,  when  he  appeared 
at  the  opera  and  at  the  concert  in  Calcutta.  We  wondered  at  the 
strings  of  emeralds  and  pearls  which  drooped  from  his  neck  and 
turban,  when  he  met  us  yesterday  at  the  citadel.  When  he  paid 
his  visit  of  ceremony  this  morning  at  the  pavilion,  we  thought  he 


426  BRITISH  INDIA. 

could  have  notliing  in  reserve  so  line  as  tlie  diamonds  and  emeralds 
he  then  wore.  One  chain,  suspended  from  his  turban,  contained 
twenty-six  brilliants,  each  as  large  as  a  hazel-nut.  But  those  dec- 
orations were  simplicity  itself  when  compared  with  the  pearls, 
rubies,  emeralds,  sapphires,  and  diamonds,  which  flashed  upon  us 
as  he  stood  resplendent  on  the  portico  above,  waiting  to  receive  us. 
The  music,  until  now  hushed,  burst  forth  from  twelve  unseen  bands 
at  once.  With  majestic  courtesy,  he  took  Mr.  Seward  by  the  hand 
and  conducted  him  up  the  steps,  and  across  the  terraced  portico, 
and  seated  him  in  a  silver  arm-chair,  which  was  placed  on  a  dais 
within  a  recess,  in  a  great  hall  of  audience,  which  was  filled  to  its 
utmost  capacity.  Then  excusing  himself,  his  highness  returned  to 
the  portico,  and  conducted  one  of  the  ladies  to  an  equally  magnifi- 
cent seat ;  then  returned,  and  brought  the  other  lady  in  the  same 
courtly  manner.  He  then  seated  himself  between  the  two  ladies. 
Mr.  Seward  had  become  anxious,  and  now  asked  Captain  Horsford 
for  Freeman.  Inquiry  was  made,  and  he  was  found  sitting  meekly, 
if  not  quite  patiently,  in  his  gilded  liowdah,  forgotten  in  the  bustle ; 
equally  unable  to  descend  without  assistance,  or  to  make  his  wants 
known.  At  command,  a  silver  ladder  was  raised  against  the  kneel- 
ing beast,  and  Freeman  entered,  having  had  to  wait  his  audience  at 
Putteeala,  as  he  had  before  to  wait  for  the  fifteenth  amendment  to 
bring  him  to  the  citizenship  of  the  United  States. 

The  music  ceased.  The  prince,  now  turning  to  Mr.  Seward, 
delivered  an  elaborate  speech,  in  which  he  explained,  in  a  strain 
perhaps  not  altogether  free  from  Eastern  hyperbole,  the  pride  and 
satisfaction  which  he  derived  from  Mr.  Seward's  visit  to  his  capital, 
and  to  the  palace  of  his  ancestors.  This  discourse  was  followed  by 
an  address  equally  complimentary  to  each  of  the  ladies.  Mr. 
Seward  replied  that  it  was  particularly  gratifying  to  him  to  be 
received  with  so  much  consideration  in  one  of  the  most  important 
of  the  native  states  of  India.  These  compliments  finished,  the 
infant  son  and  heir  of  the  prince  was  brought  in,  accompanied  by 
twenty  or  more  tutors,  and  attendants,  and  was  formally  presented 
to  each  of  the  visitors.  The  little  boy,  only  four  years  old,  is  very 
pretty.     He  has  large  dark  eyes  and  curling  black  hair.     His  small 


THE  INFANT  PRINCE. 


427 


rich  scarlet-and-blue  silk  dress  was  loaded  witli  jewels.  An  enor- 
mous turban,  embroidered  with  gold,  seemed  enough  to  weigh  him 
down.  He  stood  erect  and  made  profound  salams  /  then  one  of 
his  tutors,  speaking  in  the  child's  name,  said  :  "  I  had  the  honor  of 
meeting  jour  excellencies,  in  your  morning  drive,  and  I  hope  you 
have  had  a  pleasant  da3^  I  shall  always  remember  that  I  have 
seen  you  here."  Having  gone  through  his  part  with  perfect  pro- 
priety, the  young  prince,  like  any  less  distinguished  child,  laid  his 
curly  head  on  the  arm  of  his  great  silver  chair,  and  was  soon  sound 


THE  PEINCE   OF   PUTTEEALA 


asleep.  The  maharajah  now  spoke  of  his  domestic  state,  saying, 
however,  nothing  of  wife  or  wives.  He  dwelt,  as  a  proud  father 
might,  on  his  two  children,  the  one  who  was  now  with  us,  and  the 
other  a  girl,  still  younger,  in  the  zenana.  He  then  gave  us  a  brief 
account  of  his  father,  who  was  distinguished  for  his  heroism,  and 
of  his  two  sisters,  one  of  whom  is  dead,  the  other  a  widow.  This 
easy  and  pleasant  conversation  over,  a  troop  of  nautch-girls  came 
upon  the  floor,  more  richly  dressed  and  more  graceful  even  than 


428  BRITISH  mDlA. 

those  we  saw  at  tlie  recratta  on  tlie  Gano;es.  The  hall  was  now 
cleared.  Fifty  Sikh  bagpipers,  in  British  uniform,  marched  through 
the  hall,  discoursing  familiar  airs  under  the  leadership  of  a  Scottish 
piper,  in  tartan  and  hilts. 

After  these  amusements,  the  husiness  of  the  dm-bar  was  re- 
sumed. The  maharajah's  ministers  of  state  were  announced, 
appeared  and  made  salams  in  a  manner  which  elsewhere  might  be 
thought  affected  or  obsequious,  but  here  is  graceful  and  dignified. 
Mr.  Seward  detained  each,  with  questions  in  regard  to  the  affairs 
of  his  department,  and  the  form  in  which  it  is  conducted.  ISText 
came  the  general  and  commanders  of  the  army,  not  forgetting  the 
Highland  leader  of  the  pipers.  Putteeala  has  no  navy.  Last,  a 
great  number  of  persons,  pi'esented  as  "  relatives  of  the  prince," 
employed  in  judicial,  political,  and  municipal  trusts.  No  present- 
able man  in  the  city  was  omitted.  The  presentations  being  over,  a 
multitude  of  servants,  "that  no  man  in  haste  could  number,"  came 
bearing;  silver  travs  on  their  heads  filled  with  India  fabrics  of  mus- 
lins,  cambrics,  cashmeres,  silks,  and  jewels,  and  laid  the  whole  at 
Mr.  Seward's  feet,  the  trays  covering  twenty  feet  square  on  the 
floor.  The  pi'ince,  with  infinite  gravity,  invited  Mr.  Seward  to 
accept  this  "  small  and  unworthy  collection  "  as  a  token  of  his 
highness's  respect  and  affection.  Mr.  Seward,  having  been  previ- 
ously instructed,  touched  with  his  finger  the  simplest  article,  a 
turban  scarf  of  purple  interwoven  with  gold  thread.  The  trays 
and  their  bearers  immediately  disappeared,  but  only  to  be  replaced 
by  a  similar  display,  no  less  costly  and  elegant.  These  treasures 
were  laid  at  the  feet  of  one  of  the  ladies,  who  was  asked  to  accept 
this  "  poor  trash."  In  accordance  with  an  intimation  through  an 
officer,  she  touched  a  cashmere  shawl.  The  train  and  merchandise 
disappeared,  and  the  third  and  equal  presentation  was  made  to  the 
second  lady,  who  in  like  manner  touched  a  shawl.  The  prince, 
who  had  looked  on  with  an  air  of  supreme  indifference  to  the 
whole  proceeding,  then  said  to  Mr.  Seward,  "  I  haye  a  great  many 
other  things  in  the  palace,  which  I  should  like  to  present  to  you, 
but  I  will  not  take  up  your  time  to  look  at  them."  Then,  thanking 
Mr.  Seward  and  the  ladies  for  having  accepted  these  "  unworthy 


A  MAGNIFICENT  SALON.  499 

trifles,"  lie  in  a  loud  voice,  and  witli  an  iniiDerious  manner,  directed 
that  all  the  articles  which  had  been  thus  displayed  and  offered  to 
us,  should  be  conveyed  to  Mr.  Seward's  palace  and  delivered  to  his 
servants.  For  our  part,  we  are  Cjuite  sure  that  "  these  unworthy 
trifles "  would  have  been  sufiicient  to  stock  an  Indian  bazaar  in 
Nfew  York.  Price,  Freeman,  and  Jeanie,  who  had  been  filled 
with  admiration  in  witnessing  the  august  ceremony,  became  sud- 
denly perplexed  to  know  how  they  should  convey  so  large  a  quan- 
tity of  precious  baggage  in  our  small  special  railway  car. 

The  Prince  of  Putteeala  now  spoke  with  pride  of  the  salon  in 
which  the  durbar  was  held,  and  not  without  reason.  It  is  one 
hundred  and  thirty  feet  long,  sixty  feet  wide,  and  thirty  feet  high. 
The  roof  is  supported  by  double  rows  of  columns,  between  which 
are  suspended  crystal  chandeliers,  with  variegated-glass  shades  for 
two  thousand  lights.  The  walls,  on  all  sides,  are  hung  with  mir- 
rors. Mr.  Seward  rose  to  take  leave.  The  betel-nut  was  offered  to 
our  palates,  the  attar  of  roses  to  our  hands,  and  we  were  dismissed 
with  a  suggestion  that  we  should  drive  through  those  of  the  city 
parks  and  gardens  which  we  had  not  yet  seen,  and  then  return  for 
a  final  visit  in  the  evening.  The  maharajah  conducted  us  down 
the  sbiircase  and  placed  us  in  carriages.  We  drove  an  hour 
through  the  public  grounds,  being  stopped  every  few  rods  by  gar- 
deners, who  covered  us  with  flowers,  and  filled  our  carriages  with 
fruit.  A  band  of  music,  on  the  way,  gave  us  "  God  save  the 
Queen,"  which  tune  these  good  people  seem  to  think  to  be  a 
national  hymn  of  our  own.  On  the  way  to  our  pavilion,  we  met 
the  maharajah,  driving  his  favorite  "  Hermit  "  before  a  dog-cart,  at 
a  furious  rate,  followed  by  a  flying  escort. 

We  returned  to  the  palace  at  eight  o'clock.  All  the  two  thou- 
sand candles  were  ablaze,  and  were  reflected  to  infinitude  by  the 
broad,  bright  mirrors.  Xot  only  the  salon,  but  the  court,  the 
grand  stairway,  the  portico,  the  entire  palace,  with  its  thousand 
windows  and  balconies,  were  illuminated.  So  the  ancestral  hall  of 
Putteeala  was  as  brilliant  as  the  mountain -palace  in  which  Cupid 
visited  the  enchanted  Psyche.  We  had  an  hour  of  conversation, 
which  was  the  more  interesting  because  informal.     It  turned  chiefly 


430  BRITISH  INDIA. 

on  the  prince's  intended  journey  the  next  year  to  England,  and 
his  desire  to  extend  it  to  the  United  States.  He  presented  his 
photograph  to  Mr.  Seward,  and  requested  him  to  write  from 
different  points  on  his  travels  in  India.  He  then  ashed  for  a 
minute  account  of  the  painful  event  at  "Washington,  in  which 
Mr.  Seward  was  a  sufferer.  He  showed  a  deep  interest  in  that 
subject,  although  his  knowledge  of  it  was  imperfect.  The  mahara- 
jah  now  informed  us  that  he  had  made  all  needful  arrangements 
for  our  comfortable  journey  to  the  Himalayas.  His  thoughts  then 
turned  once  more  upon  himself.  He  ordered  in,  and  exhibited 
with  much  pride,  his  state-robes,  among  them  the  one  in  which  we 
had  seen  him  at  the  concert  in  Calcutta.  All  of  them  were  stiffened 
with  jewels.  Estimated  together,  with  his  paternal  shield  and  sword, 
their  value  is  half  a  million  dollars. 

Taking  a  final  leave,  we  returned  to  our  pavilion,  expecting 
that  our  late  dinner  would  be  a  quiet  one.  We  were  mistaken. 
At  the  moment  when  the  dessert  came  upon  the  table,  the  Minister 
of  Public  Affiirs  announced  an  exhibition  of  jfire-works  in  the  gar- 
den. We  walked  through  a  section  of  it  which  we  had  not  previ- 
ously had  time  to  explore,  and,  amid  the  murmuring  of  cascades, 
took  our  seats  in  the  balcony  of  a  little  palace  or  pavilion,  the  coun- 
terpart of  the  one  in  which  we  reside.  The  pyrotechnic  exhibition 
had  all  the  variety  of  our  similar  displays  at  home,  but  in  excess. 
A  party  of  a  hundred  artists  on  each  side  of  the  oblong  lake  were  to 
alternate  with  a  corresponding  corps  on  the  opposite  side.  These 
performers  were,  however,  so  emulous  that,  instead  of  making  such 
a  measured  display  as  they  intended,  the  whole  exhibition  went  off 
simultaneously.  There  were  lanterns,  transparencies,  rockets,  ser- 
pents, trees,  wheels,  stars,  ribbons,  candles,  balloons,  naval  fights, 
and  bombardments ;  all  these  illuminations  being  reflected  from  the 
surface  of  the  clear,  smooth  lake  and  surrounding  cascades  and  foun- 
tains. The  unexpected  activity  of  the  performers,  while  it  produced 
much  perplexity  and  confusion,  had,  nevertheless,  one  compensation 
for  us;  within  twenty  minutes  from  the  time  the  display  began, 
sun,  moon,  stars,  dragons,  serpents,  and  balloons,  were  expiring  all 
around  us,  leaving  only  blackened  frame-works  on  the  ground. 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

A    GLANCE  AT  THE  HUIALAYAS. 

Departure  from  Putteeala. — Along  the  Banks  of  the  Jumna. — Protection  from  the  Sun. 
— Reception  at  Pindarrie. — An  Illumination. — Kalka  and  Kussowlee. — The  British 
Commissioner. — A  View  of  the  Himalayas. — An  Irish  Home. 

April  od. — We  left  Putteeala,  on  tlie  morning  of  the  1st  in- 
stant, bj  a  train  of  four-horse  post-coaches,  which  the  maharajah 
had  placed  at  our  service,  and,  under  a  farewell  salute,  began  the 
last  stage  of  our  excursion  to  the  Himalayas.  After  stopping  here 
to  lunch,  we  continued  the  journey  thirty -five  miles  along  the  banks 
of  the  Jumna,  making  in  all  sixty-nine  miles.  Though  the  coun- 
try over  which  we  passed  seemed  sandy  and  barren,  yet  the  firm 
metallic  roads  were  crowded  with  bullock  and  dak  mule-trains  car- 
rying freights  to  the  troops,  dwellers,  and  sojourners,  in  the  moun- 
tains. All  classes  here  regard  the  sun  as  their  chief  enemy,  and  the 
head  as  his  point  of  attack.  The  natives,  not  content  with  covering 
it  with  a  thick  turban,  draw  all  their  garments  over  it,  and  even 
wear  their  pallet  beds  upon  it.  For  om'selves,  we  have  divided  on 
this  subject.  The  ladies  wear  the  solar  topees  (pith  hats)  of  the 
country,  while  Mr.  Seward  adheres  tenaciously  to  his  light,  broad- 
brimmed  "  Panama,"  As  the  night  came  on,  the  dak  animals, 
arriving  at  their  frequent  stations,  were  unharnessed,  and,  as  they 
would  sav  on  the  Plains,  were  "  corralled."  Their  drivers  sat  doAvn 
to  enjoy  their  frugal  meals  under  the  trees.  The  breeze,  however, 
on  that  day  awakened  a  driving,  blinding  sand-storm,  bringing  on 


432  BRITISH  IXDIA. 

thick  darkness.  Our  road,  sometimes  crossing  river-cliannels,  now 
dry,  and  then  winding  across  orchards  of  mango,  tamarind,  and 
date-pahn  trees,  on  the  plain,  became  uncertain  and  nnsafe.  The 
only  lights  which  appeared  in  the  lonely  journey  were  by  no  means 
inspiriting.     They  were  Hindoo  obsequies,  and 

"All  around 
Glared  evermore  tlie  frequent  funeral-piles." 

The  fearful  sand-storm  was  laid  by  a  pouring  rain,  which  only 
made  the  darkness  more  intense.  We  were  about  sinking  with  fa- 
tigue  and  apprehension,  when  our  sj»rits  were  roused  by  innumer- 
able torch-lights.  The  people  of  Pindarrie,  a  town  belonging  to 
the  Maharajah  of  Putteeala,  looking  for  our  arrival,  had  come  out 
to  meet  us  on  the  plain.  Under  this  cheering  illumination,  they 
presented  to  us  their  "  submission,"  and  tendered  the  hospitalities 
of  the  place.  They  conducted  us  through  crowded  streets,  and  we 
alighted  under  a  broad,  high  gate.  Received  here,  we  passed,  by 
the  light  of  the  torches,  a  series  of  fountains  with  intervening  cas- 
cades, like  those  of  Putteeala — our  guides  at  the  same  time  in- 
forming us  that  the  walks  had  been  illuminated,  but,  much  to  their 
disappointment  and  grief,  the  storm  had  extinguished  the  lights. 
A  pavilion  in  the  spacious  garden  received  us  for  the  night.  It 
differed  from  our  house  at  Putteeala,  being  of  purer  Hindoo  archi- 
tecture, instead  of  being  Moorish  Avith  European  accessories.  The 
dinner  provided  for  us,  though  elaborate,  did  not  detain  us  long. 
Clambering  high,  steep  stairways,  and  passing  through  narrow 
corridors,  we  reached  a  suite  of  apartments,  with  balconies  over- 
looking the  fountains.  We  were  most  reluctantly  awakened  two 
hours  later  by  an  announcement  that  the  storm  was  over,  and  that 
the  garden  was  illuminated  for  our  special  entertainment.  It  is 
not  in  human  nature  to  resist  persevering  kindness  timidly  offered. 
We  dressed  and  performed  with  all  alacrity  the  duty  expected  of 
us  as  admiring  spectators.  The  light,  refracted  and  streaming 
through  the  cascades,  gathered  into  brightness  over  them,  and  glis- 
tening on  the  dripping  foliage  up  through  the  orange-trees,  lost  it- 
self in  the  pale,  glimmering  rays  of  the  half-clouded  moon.     Unlike 


EIDE  TO  KUSSOWLEE.  433 

our  experience  at  "  tlie  metropolis,"  our  sleep  tliat  niglit  in  provin- 
cial Pindarrie  was  not  a  complete  success.  Our  house  was  indeed 
Oriental  in  its  appointments  as  well  as  in  construction.  The  atmos- 
phere, cooled  by  the  storm,  was  refreshing,  and  the  music  of  rus- 
tling leaves  and  felling  waters  was  soothing,  but  the  princely  pavil- 
ion, inhabited  only  on  occasions  like  the  present,  has  become  the 
abode  of  owls,  bats,  rats,  lizards,  and  centipedes.  "VVe  had  hardly 
fallen  into  a  second  slumber,  when  we  were  aroused  this  time  to 
wage  war  with  those  malignant  disturbers  of  human  repose.  The 
allied  army  was  more  than  once  put  to  flight,  but  it  came  back  with 
a  strong  reenforcement  of  well-disciplined  and  practical  mosquitoes. 
The  trial  was  attended  by  only  one  equivalent :  it  enabled  us  to  see, 
as  the  storm  cleared  away,  and  the  full  moon  resumed  her  splendor, 
a  range  of  the  Himalayas  stretching  across  the  northern  horizon. 

The  next  morning,  at  an  early  hour,  we  drove  four  miles  to 
Kalka,  at  the  base  of  the  mountains,  the  end  of  the  carriage-road. 
In  reaching  Kalka,  we  had  come  twelve  hundred  miles  from  Cal- 
cutta, and  gained  an  elevation  of  two  thousand  feet,  without  other 
evidence  of  it  than  a  somewhat  lower  temperature,  and  a  slightly 
perceptible  difference  of  vegetation.  We  were  now  to  climb  five 
thousand  feet  higher,  to  the  summit  of  the  lowest  range  of  the 
Himalayas,  at  Kussowlee,  and  to  do  this  in  a  journey  of  nine  miles. 
Mountain -travel  here  is  done  in  three  ways ;  by  the  jhamjyau,  a 
rude  sedan-chair;  tliej?<277i;e6,  a  covered  litter,  in  which  the  passenger 
is  obliged  to  lie  down ;  or  in  the  saddle  with  mules  and  ponies.  We 
took  jhampaus  and  ponies.  At  the  moment  of  departure,  our  guide, 
raising  his  arm  almost  perpendicularly,  pointed  to  a  white  object, 
high  up  the  mountain-acclivity,  and  said,  "  Behold  Kussowlee !  " 
Like  all  mountain-roads,  these  are  engineered  by  torrents  winding 
down  deep,  irregular,  and  dark  ravines  or  canons.  At  one  moment 
we  had  the  sun  on  our  right,  then  quickly  on  our  left,  sometimes 
in  front,  and  sometimes  at  our  back,  and  as  often  directly  over- 
head. Often  we  descended,  by  a  long  road  hewn  from  the  moun- 
tain-side, into  shaded  dells,  and  crossed  noisy  brooks,  only  to  rise  by 
a  similar  acclivity  to  higher  hill-tops.  Sometimes  we  looked  for 
an  indefinite  distance  over  the  smiling  plain  of  the  Jumna,  almost 


434  BRITISn  INDIA. 

fancying  tliat  we  saw  its  junction  with  the  Ganges,  and  then  sud- 
denly found  ourselves  imprisoned  within  lowering,  frowning  walls 
of  mountain-rocks.  We  passed  a  fortification,  which,  before  the 
British  occupation,  protected  the  peaceful  lowlanders  against  incur- 
sions from  the  wild  and  more  vigorous  invaders  from  Afghanistan. 
It  hung  so  long  over  our  heads  that  we  thought  this  castle  must 
mark  the  end  of  our  journey.  With  much  surprise,  w^e  afterward 
found  ourselves  looking  down  upon  the  same  fortification,  and  as 
yet  we  were  more  than  five  miles  fi*om  Kussowlee.  The  date-palm 
maintains  its  foothold  for  only  a  short  distance  on  the  mountain- 
side. Wheat-fields  are  seen  at  the  height  of  three  thousand  feet. 
Those  below  are  quite  ready  for  the  sickle,  while  the  uppermost 
fields  show  the  bluish-green  blade,  as  we  see  it  at  home,  when  just 
unveiled  from  the  snow.  Wheat  will  be  gathered  on  the  banks  of 
the  Potomac  long  before  that  which  is  growing  on  these  mountain- 
terraces.  The  palm  and  the  mango  gave  place  chiefly  to  the  low 
candelahra  cactus,  which  seems  to  require  neither  depth  of  soil  nor 
constant  moisture.  This  showy  plant  intermingles  with  elders  and 
alders,  white,  blue,  yellow,  purple,  and  crimson  mountain-flowers, 
here  and  there  a  dwarf  rhododendron,  and  profuse  "  Virginia  creep- 
ers." At  the  height  of  four  thousand  feet,  the  cactus  gives  up  the 
struggle,  and  the  small  plateaus  are  covered  with  low  spreading 
pines,  with  trunks  of  not  more  than  eight  inches  in  diameter.  The 
road  now  becomes  more  steep,  the  precipices  more  abrupt.  It  is 
the  season  of  drought.  The  mountain-sides  are  brown.  There  is, 
nevertheless,  in  every  dell,  a  village  or  hamlet,  the  houses  mainly 
built  of  sand-stone,  with  thatched-roofs,  and  surrounded  by  stacks  of 
hay  and  small  herds  of  small  cattle,  much  more  sleek  and  fat  than 
those  which  are  raised  on  the  plains.  Travellers  who  have  visited  the 
eastern  part  of  the  Himalayas  tell  us  that,  on  heights  greater  than 
those  which  we  reached,  they  found  forests  of  oak  and  laurel.  We 
did  not  see  the  eagle  which  those  travellers  describe  as  soaring  over 
the  mountain-peaks,  nor  the  monkey  which  they  say  pelts  the 
passer-by  in  the  valley  of  Cashmere.  Before  we  reached  Kussowlee, 
thick  clouds  arose,  as  is  their  wont,  leaving  no  towering  peak,  pin- 
nacle, or  distant  range  of  mountains  visible.     Kussowlee,  a  not  in- 


A  GLIMPSE   OF   THE   HIMALAYAS.  435 

considerable  native  town,  is  now  occupied  with  army  hospitals  and 
a  small  garrison.  Major  Parsons,  commissioner  at  Simla,  had  pro- 
vided for  us  a  pleasant  lodge  in  the  village.  A  lassitude  came 
over  us  in  consequence  of  our  travelling  in  the  upper  air,  and  this 
commingled  with  feelings  of  disappointment  that,  although  we  had 
come  so  far  to  see  the  Himalayas,  we  were  to  see  only  their  base. 
The  British  officers,  considerate  and  hospitable,  as  we  have  univer- 
sally found  them,  allowed  us  two  hours  for  rest,  before  the  entertain- 
ment at  which  we  were  to  receive  their  families.  Here,  as  at  Pin- 
darrie,  we  were  awakened  prematurely,  but  more  to  our  satisfaction  ; 
the  sky  had  brightened,  and  the  snow-clad  range  was  visible.  We 
hastened  to  the  veranda,  and  the  Himalayas  confronted  us,  stretch- 
ing east  and  west  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  looming  half-way 
up  to  the  centre  of  the  heavens.  The  crest  was  an  undulating  field 
of  dazzling  snow ;  but  presto,  change !  Even  at  the  moment  when 
we  were  aiming  the  telescope,  black  spots  descended  on  that  white 
mantle.  The  clouds  came  back  again.  Thenceforth,  neither  rocks 
nor  snow-fields  were  to  be  seen.  The  distant  Himalayas  had  dis- 
appeared as  suddenly  as  they  had  come  before  us.  Nevertheless, 
we  were  content.  We  stood  on  the  giant's  foot,  and  for  one  mo- 
ment had  looked  him  fully  in  the  face. 

At  mid-day  the  horizon  cleared,  and  we  saw,  eastward,  the 
valley  in  which  the  mighty  Ganges  has  his  cradle  ;  and,  westward, 
the  plain  in  which  not  only  the  Indus  has  its  fountains,  but  also 
that  from  which  the  Jliylum  and  Sutlej  spring.  It  was  something 
to  study,  from  this  stand-point,  the  geography  of  the  continent. 
Prom  our  eminence  we  distinctly  traced  the  mountain-passes 
through  which  the  northern  invaders  of  India  came — the  Tartar, 
the  Afghan,  the  Persian,  and  even  the  great  Macedonian.  We 
left  with  regret  the  interesting  society  which  gathered  around  us  at 
Kussowlee.  As  we  descended  the  mountain,  we  remarked  that  we 
found  this  portion  of  the  Himalayas  as  sterile  and  dull  during  a 
large  part  of  the  year  as  the  Rocky  Mountains.  ISTeither  the  one 
nor  the  other  can  be  cultivated  without  partial  irrigation,  but  with 
it  the  now  desolate  valleys  and  table-lands  may  be  made  as  luxuri- 
ant and  beautiful  as  the  peaks  which  rise  above  them  are  sublime. 


436 


BRITISH  INDIA. 


It  was  niglitlall  when  we  readied  our  Hindoo  resting-place  *at 
Pindarrie.  All  the  way  down,  tlie  guides  were  on  the  lookout 
for  panthers,  which  infest  this  fine  Government  road,  but  we  saw 
no  wild-beast  of  any  kind,  though  we  heard  all  around  us  the 
mournful  and  distracting  howls  of  the  jackal.  Cakes,  tea,  and 
wine,  awaited  us  at  Kalka — a  generous  supper,  with  renewed  and 
successful  illumination  of  the  fountains,  at  Pindarrie. 

Simple,  gentle  mountaineers  !  Pleased  above  all  other  pleas- 
ures when  pleasing  the  stranger.  When  shall  we  see  again  hos- 
pitalities like  those  of  town  and  country  in  Putteeala  ? 

Taking  our  leave  as  soon  as  possible,  we  resumed  our  carriages 
at  eleven  o'clock,  and  by  the  light  of  the  now  unclouded  moon  we 
made  our  way  down  the  bank  of  the  Jumna,  and  found  the  gates 
and  door  of  Major  Tigh's  Irish  home  wide  open  at  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  What  a  happy  realm  Great  Britain  would  be,  if 
the  English  and  the  Gaelic  elements  were  combined  as  harmoni- 
ously in  the  entire  population  of  the  islands  as  they  are  in  that 
genial  dwelling ! 


THE  HIMALAYAS. 


CriAPTEK  XIY. 

ALLAHABAD  AND  JUBBULPOOR. 

An  Interesting  Debate. — Earl  Mayo,  the  Viceroy  of  India. — His  Murder. — The  Vindhya 
Mountains. — Industrial  Activity  of  Jubbulpoor. — An  Elephant  Ride. — A  Night  Voy- 
age on  the  Nerbudda. — Romantic  and  Beautiful  Scenery. — Hindoo  Tenderness  for 
Animals. 

Government  House,  AUaliahad,  Ajpril  QtJi. — We  arrived  at  a 
late  hour  last  iiio-ht.  The  rest  which  was  so  needful  was  broken 
at  dawn  by  martial  music.  A  detachment  was  escorting  the  vice- 
roy from  the  railway-station  to  Government  House. 

We  have  had  the  good  fortune  to  hear  a  very  interesting  debate 
in  the  Legislative  Council,  over  which  he  presides,  and  also  of 
dining  with  him  and  the  members  of  that  distinguished  body. 
The  viceroy  is  on  his  way  with  his  court  to  the  summer  capital 
of  Simla,  in  the  same  lower  range  of  the  Himalayas  from  which  we 
have  just  descended.  He  rests  here  to-night,  and  the  day  after 
to-morrow  he  will  hold  the  great  durbar  at  Lucknow.  The  in- 
vitations to  us  to  witness  it  are  earnest,  but  the  entire  press  of 
India  is  warning  us  to  •  leave  the  coimtry  before  the  intense  heat 
comes  on. 

Earl  Mayo '  has  won  our  grateful  regard  by  the  studious  care  he 

'  On  the  8th  of  May,  1872,  this  wise  and  benevolent  statesman,  able  magistrate, 
and  genial  friend,  received  his  death  at  the  hands  of  a  Mohammedan  political  prisoner, 
while  on  a  tour  of  inspection  of  the  penitentiary  at  Port  Blair,  in  the  Andaman  Islands. 
Our  excellent  friend  Lord  Napier,  as  Governor  of  Madras,  succeeded  him  as  Viceroy  of 
India,  ad  iTiterim. 


438  BRITISH  INDIA. 

has  practised  for  our  safety,  comfort,  and  instruction,  during  our 
travels  in  the  country.  Mr.  Seward  is  highly  gratified  in  having 
had  this  opportunity  to  renew  his  acknowledgments,  and  to 
assure  the  viceroy  of  the  evidences  he  finds  everywhere  of  the 
success  of  his  administration. 

"We  take  our  departure  to-night,  and  with  it  our  regrets  that  we 
have  not  language  to  express  to  Sir  William  Muir  and  his  family 
our  appreciation  and  gratitude  for  all  their  kindness. 

JuTjbulpoor,  April  %th. — ^We  left  Allahabad  at  midnight  and 
opened  our  eyes  this  morning  on  a  broad  table-land  of  the  Yin- 
dhya  Mountains,  the  range  which,  traversing  Hindostan  from  east 
to  west,  parts  the  tributaries  of  the  Ganges  from  those  of  the 
JS'erbudda  and  the  Indus.  These  mountains,  better  known  in  early 
geography  as  the  north  border  of  the  Deccan,  intersect  the  lofty 
Ghauts  which  stretch  from  Cape  Comorin  quite  up  to  the  Himala- 
yas. This  region  is  less  densely  inhabited  and  more  sparingly  cul- 
tivated than  the  plain  of  the  Ganges.  Aboriginal  tribes  are  still 
existing  here,  which  have  survived  all  the  political  changes  of 
two  thousand  years,  and  still  retain  their  primitive  languages,  re- 
ligions, and  customs. 

Jubbulpoor  exhibits  much  industrial  activity.  It  is  for  West- 
ern India  what  Oo:den  is  for  the  western  reo-ion  of  the  United 
States.  The  railways  from  Bombay,  Madras,  and  Calcutta,  m.eet 
here.  Mr.  Grant,  commissioner  for  the  province,  has  received 
lis  with  the  same  British  hospitality  and  courtesies  that  have 
made  our  sojourn  in  India  so  agreeable.  In  this  inclement  sea- 
son few  Europeans  travel  even  on  the  railways  during  the  day, 
and  none  go  abroad  in  any  other  way  except  at  night.  Nothing 
remains  for  us,  therefore,  on  our  arrival,  but  to  enjoy  a  most  wel- 
come sleep. 

April  ^th. — Carriages  were  in  waiting  at  our  door  last  evening, 
and  we  drove  through  the  pretty  suburb  of  the  town,  and  into  the 
open  country.  JSTight  had  fully  set  in  when  we  reached  a  wooded 
glen.     As  we   descended  from  the  carriages,  two  grim  elephants 


A  NIGHT   VOYAGE.  439 

kneeled  before  us.  These  animals  are  used  instead  of  ambulances 
in  the  army.  A  rough  board  or  pannier  is  swung  on  either  side 
of  the  elephant,  with  a  swinging  stirrup  below  it.  The  rider  is 
secured  to  his  seat,  if  he  need,  by  a  rope  round  his  waist,  which  is 
fastened  to  the  animal's  head.  Our  elephants,  though  docile 
enough,  were  young  and  impatient.  They  tramped  four  miles  in 
half  an  hour,  in  the  dark,  along  a  narrow  path  through  the  jungle, 
fording  a  broad  and  deep  stream  on  the  way,  greatly  to  our  terror. 
At  the  end  of  the  march,  we  stood  at  the  door  of  a  dak  bungalow, 
hanging  half-way  down  a  rocky  precipice,  with  the  Nerbudda 
meandering  at  its  base.  We  rested  an  hour  in  the  bungalow,  and 
then  with  the  aid  of  guides  made  our  way  cautiously  three  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  down,  and  took  our  seats  in  a  flat-bottomed  boat. 
Patient  Hindoos  applied  themselves  noiselessly  to  the  oars,  and  the 
voyage  which  we  began,  though  dull  at  first,  soon  became  one  of 
absorbing  interest.  The  JSTerbudda  here  forces  its  passage  through 
a  mountain  of  white  marble,  and  is  twisted  right  and  left  by 
ledges  projecting  from  either  bank.  The  deep,  dark  river  moves  in 
its  serpentine  channel  without  perceptible  current.  The  summits 
of  the  banks,  changing  position  with  every  stroke  of  the  oars,  are 
covered  with  forest-trees,  over  the  tops  of  which  are  seen  the  pin- 
nacles of  innumerable  Hindoo  temples,  raised  here  by  a  sentiment 
of  superstitious  reverence  for  scenery  so  romantic  and  beautiful. 
The  river  has  the  breadth  of  the  Delaware  at  the  famous  Gap. 
The  waning  moon  now  rose  over  our  heads.  First,  the  one  white 
rocky  bank  received  the  silvery  light,  while  the  other  was  in  dark 
shadow,  then  the  other,  and  then,  for  only  an  instant,  both  shores. 
Now  the  temples  and  tree-tops  intercepted  the  rays,  then  the 
luminary  was  reflected  entire  by  the  clear,  still  waters.  The  glis- 
tening, winding  precipices,  now  in  light,  and  now  in  shade,  took 
on  the  shapes  of  castles,  palaces,  cathedrals,  and  temples.  It 
seemed  as  if  we  were  passing  beneath  the  ruins  of  some  vast  capital 
like  Benares.  A  dead  silence  prevailed,  except  that  the  owl,  dis- 
turbed by  our  coming,  poured  forth  his  sad  complaints  from  the 
overhanging  rocks,  and  the  jackal  shrieked  his  despairing  cry  of 

hunger.     All  the  while  the  river  was  smooth,  and  alternately  black 
34 


4^0  BRITISH  INDIA. 

or  sliimmering  in  the  moonlight.  Suddenly  our  barge  trembled, 
the  stream  beneath  it  broke  into  rapids,  and  we  heard  coming  up 
before  us  the  rumbling  sound  of  a  cataract.  The  voyage  was 
finished.  Returning  by  the  same  gentle  beating  of  the  oars,  we 
studied  under  a  more  constant  light  all  these  enchantments  in 
detail.  The  moon  withdrew  her  light  as  we  climbed  the  rugged 
bank  and  reached  the  bungalow.  Then,  laying  aside  our  ambition 
for  elephantine  pomp,  we  contentedly  took  our  seats  in  a  jaunting- 
car,  before  which  were  harnessed  two  little  white  bullocks,  leaving 
the  elephants  to  follow  with  the  servants.  Our  driver  had  an  odd 
way  of  inciting  the  animals.  'Whenever  they  stopped,  he  had  only 
to  pull  their  tails,  and  away  they  went  over  hill  and  dale,  down  the 
crooked  ravine,  and  through  the  perilous  ford,  with  such  speed  that 
they  reached  the  station  half  an  hour  before  the  stately  elephants, 
who  came  up  at  their  appointed  time.  Here  we  resumed  our  car- 
riages. During  the  livelong  night,  wild  beasts  held  high  carnival 
around  us  on  our  homeward  way.  Jackals  filled  the  air  with  their 
howls,  and  wild-boars  dashed  across  the  road,  scarcely  taking  care 
to  avoid  the  hoofs  of  our  horses. 

It  is  almost  enough  to  raise  a  doubt  of  the  unity  of  the  hu- 
man race,  when  one  is  called  to  contrast  the  perverse  tenderness 
of  the  Hindoos  toward  animals,  with  the  vigorous  war  which  all 
other  races  make  to  subjugate  or  exterminate  them.  This  tender- 
ness is  a  fruit  of  the  national  Pythagorean  philosophy,  whose 
element  is  transmigration,  and  teaches  that  the  souls  of  men,  after 
death,  enter  the  bodies  of  animals.  To  what  height  of  absurdity  has 
this  idea  been  carried  !  The  Thugs,  now  happily  suppressed,  found 
in  it  a  religious  warrant  for  plundering  and  strangling  men,  divid- 
ing the  spoils  with  their  altar  of  Kali.  Ko  Hindoo  can  be  induced 
to  pursue  the  tiger,  the  lion,  or  even  the  cobra  de  capello.  It  must 
have  been  in  Hindostan  that  Mr.  Darwin  found  his  theory,  which 
derives  man  from  the  monkey.  The  Hindoo  farmer  not  only 
allows  the  simian  race  to  feed  on  his  growing  crops  and  fruits,  but 
also  to  glean  in  the  harvest  field.  "We  felicitated  the  gardener  at 
Putteeala  on  his  fine  crop  of  oranges.  He  responded  that  the 
monkeys  would  carry  off  the  largest   portion  of  the  fruit.     We 


THIEVING  MONKEYS. 


441 


asked  him  why  he  did  not  drive  them  off.  "  We  do  frighten  them 
away,  but  they  come  back  again." 

"  Why  do  you  not  kill  them  ?  " 

"  Oh  !  "  he  rephed,  "  if  a  man  should  kill  one  of  those  filching 
fellows,  a  hundred  of  them  would  come  together,  and  they  would 
never  leave  that  man  alive." 


THE  KEEBUDDA. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

BOMBAY. 

The  Ghaut  Mountains. — A  Cosmopolitan  City. — The  Natives  of  Bombay. — A  Mixed  Pop- 
ulation.— Chinese,  Siamese,  Javanese,  Cingalese,  Sikh,  Afghan,  and  Cashmerian. — 
The  Races  of  the  South  and  the  North,  of  the  East  and  the  West. — Parsee  Customs. 
— ^Parsee  Religion. — Hindoo,  Mohammedan,  and  Parsee  Disposal  of  the  Dead. — Ad- 
miral Cockburn. — The  Great  Heat. — An  Excursion  to  Elephanta. 

United  States  Consulate,  Bombay,  April  13th. — We  arrived  here 
on  tlie  11th.  The  two  monntain-ranges  of  the  west  coast  of  In- 
dia, called  the  Eastern  and  Western  Ghauts,  resemble  our  own 
Alleghanies.  Their  loftiest  peaks  are  several  thousand  feet  high. 
Although  our  journey  from  Jubhulpoor  lay  across  both  ranges,  the 
highest  plateau  we  crossed  -was  two  thousand  feet.  Tlie  largest 
cotton-fields  of  India  are  found  in  the  valleys  of  the  Nerbudda  and 
the  Taptee.  Marvellous  engineering  has  been  practised  in  bring- 
ing the  railway  down  from  the  plain  of  ]^erbudda  to  the  valley  of 
the  Taptee,  wliich  cames  the  ocean-tide  up  to  the  once  great  and 
now  not  unimportant  port  of  Surat,  one  hundi'ed  and  sixty  miles 
north  of  Bombay. 

Our  first  impression  on  arriving  here  was  that  Bombay  is  more 
cosmopolitan  than  any  other  city  in  India.  We  experienced  a  feel- 
ing almost  of  regret  when  we  left  the  cosy  railway-car,  which,  for 
nearly  a  month,  had  been  our  rolling  home.  The  stars  and  stripes 
were  floating  over  the  consulate  not  far  from  the  railway  station, 
and  Mr.  Faniham,  the  consul  here,  was  awaiting  our  arrival,  Tlie 
Governor  of  Bombay,  Sir  Seymour  Fitzgerald,  sent  a  secretary  to 


POPULATION  OF  BOMBAY.  443 

tender  us  the  liospitalities  of  Government  House,  and  we  found, 
also  awaiting  us,  that  eminent  native  gentleman,  Sir  Jamsetjee 
Jejeebhoj,  with  his  three  sons.  Although  the  city  of  Bombay- 
stands  on  an  island,  the  railway-traveller  is  not  made  aware  of  its 
separation  from  the  main-land.  The  terraced  shore  of  the  island 
looks  across  a  bay,  studded  with  lesser  islands,  and  capacious 
enough  for  the  commerce  of  the  world.  Lofty  promontories, 
stretching  out  from  the  coast,  divide  the  harbor  into  three  not 
unequal  basins.  The  native  population  here,  more  than  in  Madras 
and  Calcutta,  have  engaged  in  European  commerce,  and  they  have 
also  in  a  considerable  degree  come  to  adopt  Western  usages  and 
customs.  Indeed,  it  needs  a  close  examination  to  distinguish  be- 
tween the  streets  and  dwellings  occupied  by  the  natives  and  those 
inhabited  by  Europeans.  The  cocoa-nut  palm  seems  a  universal 
favorite  for  purposes  of  shade  and  ornament.  It  embowers  and 
almost  conceals  the  homes  of  the  million  inhabitants  of  Bombay. 
The  railroad  system,  recently  completed,  which  connects  the  city 
with  Calcutta,  as  well  as  with  the  peninsula  and  the  Punjab,  has 
enabled  Bombay  to  supplant  Calcutta  as  the  gate  of  India.  The 
people  of  Calcutta  are  sharply  divided  between  the  native  Hindoo 
population  and  the  resident  Europeans.  Bombay,  on  the  contrary, 
has  a  mixed  population.  You  see  this  the  moment  you  enter  the 
Bazaar,  for  so  is  called  the  part  of  the  city  devoted  to  native  trade. 
There  the  inevitable  and  versatile  Chinaman — who  is  seaman,  mer- 
chant, and  banker — the  effeminate  Siamese,  Javanese,  and  Cinga- 
lese of  the  south,  mingle  with  the  sturdy  Sikh,  Afghan,  and  Cash- 
merian  of  the  north.  The  native  Mahratta  stalks  with  haughty 
bearing  through  the  streets,  followed  by  the  Portuguese  half-castes 
of  Goa.  The  black  native  of  Madagascar  is  here,  with  the  Persian, 
the  Arab,  the  Abyssinian,  the  Syrian,  the  Turk,  and  the  Greek 
from  the  Levant.  Here  in  Bombay,  moreover,  Asiatics  aspire  to 
and  gain  high  commercial  rank,  and  social  and  political  positions, 
under  the  liberal  patronage  of  the  government.  The  Parsee  mer- 
chant vies  with  the  educated  Hindoo  in  establishing  charity-schools 
and  hospitals,  and  both  alike  obtain  seats  in  the  Legislative  Coun- 
cil.  We  have  come  even  thus  early  under  equal  obligations  to  emu- 


444  BRITISH  INDIA. 

lous  members  of  the  two  emulous  classes.  We  were  entertained  at 
dinner  on  the  10th  at  Government  House  by  Sir  Seymour  Fitzger- 
ald and  his  mother.  Some  fifty  ladies  and  gentlemen,  all  English, 
including  the  Bishop  of  Bombay,  the  members  of  the  Legislative 
Council,  and  many  oflBcers  of  the  army,  were  present.  Though  the 
dining-hall  is  furnished  after  the  English  fashion,  the  house  is  a 
spacious  bungalow  of  one  story,  like  most  such  structures  in  the 
tropics,  with  an  encircling  veranda  as  wide  as  the  house.  Our 
entertainment  yesterday  was  equally  hospitable,  but  of  a  very  dif- 
ferent character.  Manockjee  Cursetjee,  our  Parsee  host,  with  his 
two  sons,  stood  at  the  basement-door  of  a  square  house  of  four  lofty 
stories.  Every  apartment  of  the  house  looks  out  upon  either  the 
sea  or  the  city.  Although  it  was  not  yet  dark,  every  chamber  was 
brilliantly  illuminated.  We  thought,  at  first,  that  this  style  of 
dwelling  belonged  exclusively  to  the  Parsee,  but  we  have  found 
out  since  that  the  Hindoo  emulates  the  Parsee  in  the  height  of  the 
house  and  the  brilliancy  of  its  lights.  The  Parsee's  palace  afibrds 
every  convenience  and  comfort  except  the  necessary  easy  staircase. 
We  declined  the  offer  of  being  carried  up  by  chairs,  and  ascended 
instead  the  corkscrew  which  leads  to  the  fourth  story,  where  we 
were  received  in  a  grand  salon  by  the  accomplished  daughters  of 
our  host.  They  were  dressed  exquisitely  in  the  native  costume, 
except  that  they  were  guilty  of  oflence  against  the  national  sense  of 
propriety  by  covering  their  feet  with  shoes,  and  their  hands  with 
gloves.  Manockjee  Curretjee,  Esquire,  is  a  Parsee  of  good  family, 
native  here,  who  acquired  an  English  education,  and  studied  law  in 
the  English  university.  Having  obtained  a  judicial  appointment 
from  the  government,  and  discharged  its  functions  for  some  years 
with  ability  and  success,  he  visited  England  and  travelled  exten- 
sively throughout  Europe,  being  everywhere  received  in  high 
circles.  His  daughters,  who  have  been  instructed  by  English  gov- 
ernesses, have  also  travelled  in  Europe,  and  they  are  understood  to 
be  the  first  Hindoo  ladies  who  have  done  so.  His  two  sons  were 
educated  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  The  ladies  assured  us  that 
when  travelling  in  Europe  they  adopted  the  Western  costume,  but 
they  conform  here  to  the  Oriental  habits  and  the  dress  of  their 


PARSEE   CHILDREN. 


4i5 


people.  The  gentlemen  make  a  compromise  on  the  clothes  ques- 
tion. They  were  dressed  at  dinner  faultlessly  in  European  fashion, 
but  had  on  scarlet- velvet  caps ;  while  the  father,  throughout  the 
entire  evening,  wore  that  strange,  uncomfortable,  ill-looking,  fun- 
nel-shaped hat,  by  which  the  disciple  of  Zoroaster  is  known,  and 
has  been  known  a  thousand  years,  wherever  he  has  been  seen 
throughout  the  whole  world.  Probably  asceticism  is  inseparable 
from  devotion ;  certainly  it  has  revealed  itself  at  some  time  in  the 
progress  of  every  religion.     Moreover,  asceticism  has  always  seized 


PARSEE   CHILDREN. 


upon  the  head  to  make  it  bear  witness  to  the  principle  of  humilia- 
tion. In  Christian  countries,  the  Friends  and  Shakers  prescribe 
certain  rules  for  wearing  the  hair  and  for  the  shape  of  the  hat. 
The  Roman  Catholic  orders,  regular  and  voluntary,  do  the  same 
thing,  though  not  precisely  in  the  same  way.  The  Buddhist  no 
less  than  the  Dominican  requires  the  bare  and  shaven  head.  At 
the  very  foundation  of  the  Christian  Church,  Paul  made  it  a  point 
of  discipline  that  man  ought  not  to  "  cover  his  head,"  nor  women 


446  BRITISH  IXDIA. 

to  wenr  "  broidered  hair."  So  rigid  are  the  Parsees  on  the  same 
subject  that  it  is  not  lawful  for  one  of  the  sect,  man,  woman,  or 
child,  to  have  an  uncovered  head  within-doors  or  out-of-doors,  by 
day  or  by  night,  awake  or  asleep.  Perhaps  this  observation  may 
not  be  thought  entirely  worthless,  since  it  shows  how  inseparably 
manners  are  allied  to  morals.  The  intelligent  Parsee  insists  that 
he  worships  not  the  sun  nor  lire,  but  that  he  adores  one  Supreme 
Spiritual  God,  though  he  admits  that  he  reveres  fire  and  the  sun 
as  an  identical  manifestation  of  the  Deity.  He  does  not  claim,  how- 
ever, that  the  unenlightened  members  of  the  sect  make,  or  are  capa- 
ble of  making,  this  distinction.  It  is  certain  that  every  evening, 
wherever  we  may  be,  whether  on  the  strand  or  on  the  terrace,  we 
see  the  Parsee  stop,  stand  still,  and  stretch  forth  his  hands  to  the 
retiring  god  of  day,  in  a  posture  of  devout  adoration.  The  Parsee 
temples  are  singularly  plain.  They  contain  nothing  which  is  es- 
teemed sacred  except  the  fires  which  burn  on  the  altars,  and  which, 
according  to  their  belief,  have  never  been  extinguished.  Their  reli- 
gion does  not  forbid  animal  food,  nor  are  they  divided  into  castes, 
but  the  sect  has  unconsciously  taken  upon  itself  the  Asiatic  idea  of 
excluding  women  from  society,  and  the  Hindoo  practice  of  prema- 
ture marriao;e.  Notwithstandino;  their  accommodation  in  this 
respect  to  the  customs  of  those  around  them,  Parsees  are  more 
intelligent,  inquiring,  and  enterprising,  than  any  other  class  of 
society  in  the  East.  In  all  foreign  countries,  they  bear  the  charac- 
ter of  honorable  and  liberal  merchants.  Here,  where  they  are  at 
home,  their  honor  is  sometimes  questioned,  but  their  enterprise  is 
universally  conceded.  Their  light  complexion  and  regular  features 
prove  them  to  be  of  a  higher  Caucasian  type  than  the  Hindoos. 

In  our  di'ive  yesterday,  w^e  passed  a  gate  which  disclosed  an 
open  area  filled  with  the  blaze  of  Hindoo  pyres.  We  stopped  to 
inquire  into  the  form  of  the  ceremony.  Religion  as  well  as  custom 
requires  that  the  nearest  of  kin  shall  apply  the  torch  and  watch 
the  flames.  The  devout  Bramin  does  not  doubt  that  this  act  of 
piety  perforaied  by  a  son  secures  an  instant  opening  of  the  gates 
of  paradise  to  the  departed  parent.  They  tell  us  that  until  lately 
these  burning  ghauts  were  open  on  all  sides,  that  they  were  found 


MODES   OF  BURIAL.  447 

offensive,  and  that  the  Britisli  Government  made  strenuous  efforts 
to  induce  the  Bramins  to  discontinue  the  practice  of  cremation,  or 
at  least  to  remove  the  scene  to  a  more  secluded  place.  The  only 
change,  however,  which  could  be  secured,  was  the  consent  that  a 
wall  might  be  erected  around  the  ghaut. 

A  large  enclosure  adjoins  the  ghauts.  It  is  a  Mohammedan 
cemetery.  Their  monuments  and  graves  are  not  unlike  our  own. 
Last  of  all,  we  came  to  the  Parsee's  home  of  the  dead.  It  is  a  hill, 
enclosed  with  a  very  high  wall.  On  the  summit  there  is  a  dense 
grove  of  lofty  palms ;  in  the  centre  of  this  grove,  and  high  above  its 
foliage,  rises  the  "  Tower  of  Silence."  The  tower  encloses  and  pro- 
tects a  dark,  deep,  open  well,  and  across  the  top  of  the  tower  is  a 
firmly-fixed  grating  of  iron  bars.  The  dead  body  is  laid  upon  this 
iron  grate,  the  flesh  to  be  the  food  of  the  bii'ds  of  the  air ;  the  bones, 
as  they  fall  asunder  from  exposure  and  decay,  to  drop  into  the  pro- 
miscuous pit  below.  The  Parsee  who  was  our  guide  protests  that 
this  giving  up  the  remains  of  friends  and  kindred  to  the  vulture, 
the  eagle,  and  the  raven,  seems  horrible  to  him ;  wherefore,  when  he 
was  not  long  ago  called  upon  to  deposit  the  remains  first  of  a  wife, 
then  of  a  daughter,  he  protected  them  with  a  strong  metallic  screen, 
so  that  the  remains  were  left  to  natural  decomposition  from  the 
sacred  heat  of  the  sun,  and  were  absorbed  in  the  pure  atmosphere 
which  he  enlightens.  We,  of  course,  commended  this  refinement 
of  his,  although,  to  our  minds,  the  truest  mode  of  disposing  of  the 
body  from  which  the  spirit  has  departed  is  "  earth  to  earth,  ashes 
to  ashes,  dust  to  dust." 

Aijonl  14:th. — ^When  in  Northern  India,  we  hastened  our  journey 
as  much  as  possible  to  meet  Admiral  Cockburn,  who  had  tele- 
graphed us  that  he  was  waiting  with  the  Forte,  to  convey  Mr. 
Seward  and  his  party  up  the  Persian  Gulf.  On  our  arrival  here, 
all  classes  of  Europeans,  Americans,  and  natives  alike,  protested 
that  the  season  is  too  far  advanced.  As  it  so  often  happens  at  such 
times,  travellers  and  letters  have  come  down  from  Muscat,  describ- 
ing the  heat  there  as  absolutely  frightful.  They  add  that  the  small- 
pox is  raging  throughout  the  country,  that  a  famine  is  extensively 


448  BRITISH   INDIxi. 

prevailing,  and  finally  that  insnrrection  and  civil  war  have  broken 
out.  Admiral  Cockburn,  prudent  as  he  is  generous,  has  been  de- 
terred by  these  representations.  Under  his  advice,  therefore,  we 
have  relinquished  the  cherished  purpose  of  visiting  Muscat,  Bagdad, 
and  the  ruins  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon. 

We  must  pass  by  the  many  recherche  entertainments  given  us 
by  British  residents  in  their  beautiful  villas  on  Malabar  Hill,  a 
place  worth  a  graphic  description. 

But  if  we  neglect  contemporaries,  we  cannot  aiford  to  be  thought- 
less of  the  ancients.  Yesterday  we  made  a  steam-yacht  excursion 
in  the  harbor,  with  several  ladies  and  gentlemen,  among  them  the 
eminent  Mahratta  physician  and  scholar,  Dr.  Bliau  Daji.  •  The  sail 
disclosed  to  us  the  beautiful  environs  of  Bombay,  especially  the 
harbor  and  islands.  The  landing  at  Elephanta  Island  is  represented 
by  travellers  as  very  difficult,  but  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh  was  here, 
and,  of  course,  the  caves  of  Elephanta  must  be  shown,  at  whatever 
cost,  to  the  scion  of  England's  royal  line.  In  this  emergency,  the 
municipality  of  Bombay  issued  bonds  and  erected  a  convenient  pier. 
We,  alien  republicans,  now  landed  on  that  very  wharf,  not  unmind- 
ful of  our  obligations  to  the  Council  of  Bombay,  or  of  our  good 
fortune  in  coming  after,  and  not  before,  Victoria's  sailor  son.  We 
ascended  an  easy  flight  of  stone  steps  to  a  plateau  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  above  the  sea.  This  esplanade  as  well  as  the  entire  island 
is  deeply  shaded  with  the  beautiful,  round-topped  Palmyra  palm. 
A  decrepit  Irish  soldier,  with  his  family,  in  a  bamboo  shanty, 
thatched  with  banana  and  palm  leaves,  keeps  watch  and  ward  over 
the  place.  Passing  to  the  centre  of  the  plateau  and  turning  to  the 
right,  we  confronted  a  work  of  human  art,  gigantic  and  marvelous. 
It  is  a  subterranean  temple.  The  builders,  beginning  half-way  up 
the  mountain  declivity,  and  cutting  down  perpendicularly,  have 
removed  the  mountain-face  to  the  depth  of  thirty  feet,  and  to  the 
width  of  three  hundred  feet.  The  perpendicular  wall  thus  disclosed 
is  of  basalt.  This  rock,  they  have  hewn  and  chiselled  away  to  the 
very  centre  of  the  mountain,  and  wrought  it  into  a  temple  with 
perfect  architectural  forms  and  just  proportions.  The  excavation 
consists  of  four  chambers,  the  central  one  is  majestic  with  gateways, 


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CAVES  OF  ELEPHANTA.  449 

abutments,  porches,  columns,  pilasters,  cornices,  and  vaulted  ceil- 
ings, as  complete  and  perfect  as  if,  instead  of  having  been  carved  in 
the  rock,  they  had  been  detached  from  it,  framed  and  erected  on 
the  ground.  "While  no  architectural  element  is  omitted,  all  are  per- 
fectly finished.  The  broad  pavement  is  as  level  and  smooth  as  that 
of  the  rotunda  at  Washington.  The  ceiling  needs  no  preparation  to 
receive  either  fresco  or  gilding.  The  dome  is  spherical,  while  the 
columns  upon  which  it  rests,  or  seems  to  rest,  have  regular  bases, 
bands,  flutings,  and  capitals,  though  all  alike  are  shaped  from  the 
undisturbed  rock.  We  even  thought  it  necessary  to  examine  the 
lintels  of  the  doors  to  see  if  they  were  not  detached  pieces  of  the 
rock  itself.  Standing  in  the  porch  or  within  the  temple,  and  look- 
ing inward,  you  confront  the  farther  wall.  In  its  centre,  a  deep 
recess  twenty  feet  square,  reaching  from  floor  to  roof,  is  surmounted 
by  a  bold  arch.  Within  this  recess  is  a  colossal  figure,  or  combina- 
tion of  figures,  the  triune  god :  Brahma  representing  the  creative 
power,  Yishnu  the  preserving  power,  and  Siva  the  destroying 
power.  Each  of  the  figures  is  twice  the  human  size.  Brahma  is 
looking  forward  in  an  attitude  of  calmness  and  contemplation  ;  at 
his  feet  is  a  crouching  lion.  Yishnu  rests  on  a  bed  of  lotus-flowers. 
Siva  in  one  hand  wields  a  drawn  sword,  and  in  the  other  holds  a 
cobra  ready  to  strike.  The  gigantic  group  is  completed  by  the 
accessories  of  dwarfs  and  inferior  gods.  The  ceiling  of  the  recess  is 
decorated  with  a  crowd  of  not  less  than  fifty  or  sixty  figures,  such 
as,  if  found  in  a  Christian  temple,  would  be  taken  as  representing 
angels.  Every  figure  within  the  niche  has  a  distinctive  character, 
and  is  not  deficient  in  force.  But  this  group  within  the  recess  is 
only  one  group,  the  entire  temple  being  a  gallery  full  of  like 
statuary.  On  either  side  of  the  principal  hall  or  temple  are  lesser 
chambers  or  chapels^  and  the  walls  of  these  are  covered  with  alle- 
gorical works,  illustrating  the  transformations,  incantations,  battles, 
triumphs,  marriages,  and  miracles  of  the  several  members  of  the 
Braminical  trinity.  It  is  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Bhau  Daji  that  this 
temple  was  excavated  about  twelve  hundred  years  ago.  No  won- 
der that  it  remains  complete  in  its  forms  and  proportions  !  No 
storm  can  penetrate  it,  and  no  flood  can  invade  it.     Even  the  earth- 


450  BRITISH  INDIA. 

quake  has  spared  it.  Not  so  the  demon  of  religious  zeal.  The  iiiv 
tolerant  followers  of  the  false  prophet  mutilated  these  heathen  faces 
and  forms  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  the  no  less  fanatical  Por- 
tuguese, who  came  in  the  wake  of  the  Mohammedans,  finding  the 
task  of  defacing  with  the  hammer  too  slow,  brought  a  battery 
of  cannon  to  the  temple-door,  and  battered  the  stone  gods.  What 
human  sentiment  is  so  strong  as  that  of  devotion  ?  The  passions 
of  love,  hate,  and  pride,  have  covered  the  surface  of  the  earth  with 
their  monuments.  But  here,  in  this  cave  of  Elephanta,  devotion 
has  written  its  sublimest  faith  in  the  very  centre  of  the  earth  it- 
self!  The  chamber  which  is  at  the  right  of  the  temple,  as  you 
look  inward,  contains  a  spring  of  pure,  ever-flowing  water.  The 
Bramins  think  it  possesses  a  healing  virtue,  and  it  is  among  their 
fond  conceits  that  the  purifying  water  comes  through  a  subterrane- 
ous passage  from  the  Ganges.  However  this  may  be,  the  Irish 
custodian  of  the  temple  assured  us  that  it  is  the  "  swatest  wather 
for  dhrinking  in  all  India."  When  we  looked  at  his  suspicious 
blackened  eye  and  damaged  nose,  we  regretted  for  his  sake  that  he 
does  not  confine  himself  to  "  that  same." 

The  cave-temple  of  Elephanta  is  by  no  means  a  solitary  monu- 
ment. There  are  two  others  scarcely  less  spacious  and  elaborate 
on  the  same  small  island.  In  other  parts  of  this  coast,  as  well  as 
in  Ceylon,  there  are  not  only  excavated  temples  of  Brahma,  but 
also  of  Buddha,  of  dimensions  so  vast  and  execution  so  marvellous 
as  to  throw  these  of  Elephanta  into  the  shade. 


CHAPTER  XYI. 

AN  EXCURSION  TO   GOA. 

A  Voyage  on  the  Coast  of  Malabar. — A  Perilous  Predicament. — Dubious  Navigation. — 
Situation  of  Goa.— Official  Courtesies.— History  of  Goa.— The  Old  City.— St  Francis 
Xavier. — Miraculous  Cures. — Character  of  Xavier. — Public  Institutions. — The  Gov- 
ernor's Villa. — Historical  Reminiscences. — A  Goa  Poet. — A  Cordial  Farewell. 

Off  the  Coast  of  Malabar^  April  19,  1871. — We  were  in  a  strait 
on  Friday  last.  An  excursion  down  this  coast  to  ancient  Goa,  the 
first  effective  European  settlement  in  India,  and  always  the  capital 
of  the  Portuguese  Indian  possessions,  promised  a  pleasure  not  to  be 
lost,  and  seemed  a  study  not  to  be  omitted.  But  Mr.  Seward  had 
engaged  to  dine  with  the  Byculla  Chib  of  Bombay  to-morrow,  and 
the  semi-weekly  packet  to  Goa  could  not  be  relied  upon.  "With 
twenty-four  hours'  knowledge  of  this  dilemma,  the  Government 
fitted  out  a  revenue-cutter  lying  in  commission.  The  captain  was 
unacquainted  with  the  route,  and  an  extra  one  was  appointed ; 
crew,  furniture,  and  provisions,  were  extemporized,  and,  to  make 
assurance  of  an  exact  return  doubly  sure,  we  sailed  on  Saturday  at 
sunset. 

The  Camel,  besides  her  proper  British  colors,  was  courte- 
ously invested  with  the  stars  and  stripes,  and  we  were  accom- 
panied by  Mr.  Farnham,  the  United  States  consul.  Proceeding 
merrily,  with  a  speed  of  eight  knots,  we  began  to  inquire  about 
dinner  and  sleeping  arrangements.  Sea-sickness  came  earlier  than 
dinner.     The  cabins  were  spacious  enough,  but  unavailable.     The 


452  BRITISH  INDIA. 

vessel  sat  low  in  tlie  water,  and  the  ports  were  necessarily  closed, 
the  thermometer  standing  at  ninety  degrees.  Cabins  were  impro- 
vised on  deck  by  means  of  flapping  sails.  These  privations  gave 
the  voyage  something  of  the  zest  of  a  picnic,  and  we  endured 
them  with  the  resolution  to  enjoy  discomforts,  usually  practised  on 
such  occasions. 

Our  double  captaincy  unanimously  decided,  the  night  being 
dark,  that  we  should  push  directly  out  to  sea.  We  pushed  so  far 
that  it  was  not  until  noon  on  Sunday  that  we  came  back  in  sight 
of  land.  We  proceeded  until  nightfall  in  full  view  of  the  Western 
Ghauts.  Notwithstanding  the  loss  of  time  during  the  previous 
night,  we  found  ourselves  on  Sunday  noon  so  far  advanced  that 
our  Siamese  captain  determined  to  "  slow  down,"  that  is  to  say, 
"  slacken  up,"  so  as  to  avoid  reaching  Goa  before  daylight  the  next 
morning.  With  the  pleasing  intimation  that  we  should  leave 
the  ship  at  sunrise,  we  retired  to  our  mattresses  at  nine  o'clock,  the 
crumbling  Portuguese  forts  on  the  Goa  shore  looming  up  on  the 
coast,  and  the  disdained  Bombay  packet  just  before  us,  leading  the 
way.  Our  sleep  was  "  murdered  "  by  a  mutiny  among  the  crew, 
which  was  only  quelled  when  the  leader  was  tied  up  at  the  fore- 
castle. Monday's  dawn,  instead  of  the  summons  to  go  ashore, 
brought  blank  consternation  !  AVe  were  not  at  anchor  in  the  har- 
bor, but  once  more  afloat  on  the  sea,  no  land  in  sight,  neither  of 
our  navigators  knew  where,  and,  stranger  still,  neither  knew  how 
we  came  there.  Sunrise  gave  not  only  light  but  an  unmistakable 
object  to  steer  by.  Joy  radiated  from  the  faces  of  the  captains  ;  and, 
for  ourselves,  nothing  but  our  early  training  in  the  first  of  the 
ten  commandments  which  came  down  from  Sinai,  prevented  us 
from  becoming  Parsees  and  worshipping  the  fiery  orb  on  the  spot. 
We  steered  due  east,  and  the  first  land-mark  showed  that  we  had 
left  Goa  twenty  miles  behind.  We  made  it,  however,  though  not 
without  peril  from  hidden  rocks,  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

If  the  gallant  officers  who  had  been  waiting  for  us  twelve  long 
hours,  in  their  tight,  uncomfortable  uniforms,  were  surprised  to  see 
us  coming  through  a  dangerous  southern  channel,  as  if  from  Mau- 
ritius, instead  of  the  safe  northern  one  from  Bombay,  their  aston- 


ARRIVAL  AT   GOA.  453 

ishment  did  not  exceed  that  of  our  two  commanders,  who  until  this 
very  time  are  unable  to  account  for  their  error  of  navigation.  The 
native  pilot,  they  say,  disobeyed  their  directions ;  "  there  was  sud- 
denly a  strong  outward  current  unknown  in  this  sea  before ; "  more- 
over, "  there  is  indicated  in  the  chart  just  there  an  iron  mountain, 
which  deflected  the  needle  ; "  moreover  and  furthermore,  "  the 
ship's  compass,  useless  in  harbor  movements,  had  not  been  ad- 
justed for  this  outside  navigation." 

Two  rivers,  the  Narwar  and  the  Mormugoa,  form  a  deep 
estuary,  and  the  island  of  Goa,  upon  which  the  town  is  built,  rises 
out  of  this  estuary  very  much  like  Manhattan  Island  at  the  conflu- 
ence of  the  Hudson  and  East  Rivers  in  the  bay  of  'New  York.  The 
green  banks  of  both  rivers  are  crowned  with  fortifications,  which 
are  well  preserved,  and  with  churches  and  convents,  none  of  which 
are  dilapidated,  but  of  which  some  have  been  converted  to  secular 
uses. 

On  reaching  the  bar  we  were  boarded  by  the  officer  of  the  port, 
and  delayed  until  the  fort  on  shore  delivered  a  salute  in  honor  of 
Mr.  Seward.  Our  flags  dipped  in  acknowledgment,  and  an  hour 
later  we  came  to  anchor  before  a  quaint  and  picturesque  little  city. 
An  extensive  fortiflcation  standing  immediately  on  the  wharf  is  now 
the  palace  of  the  governor-general.  The  buildings,  unique  though 
plain,  seem  to  speak  from  their  open  windows  and  graceful  bal- 
conies a  hospitable  welcome.  An  infantry  battalion  was  drawn  up 
on  the  esplanade,  and  the  river-shores  were  crowded  with  a  swarthy 
but  well-dressed  and  gentle-looking  people.  Mr.  Seward  was  con- 
veyed by  the  governor-general's  staft'  in  a  well-manned  barge  to 
the  other  shore,  where  he  was  welcomed  by  the  Secretary  of  State, 
and  received  with  military  honors.  The  band  employed  on  this 
occasion,  although  it  consists  exclusively  of  natives,  excels  any  we 
have  heard  in  India.  Western  arts  and  customs  seem  capricious 
in  taking  root  in  these  strange  countries.  On  our  journey  to 
Peking,  we  noticed  that  the  band  of  Admiral  Eodgers's  flag-ship 
was  composed  chiefly  of  dark  natives  of  Goa.  They  executed 
better  than  any  other  performers  the  "  Charta,"  as  they  called  the 

beautiful  national  air  of  Portugal.     Associated  as  it  is  in  our  rec- 
35 


454  BRITISH  INDIA. 

oUections  of  tliose  cold  and  tedious  travels,  it  was  peculiarly  pleas- 
ing when  that  noble  hymn  burst  upon  us  from  the  instruments  of  a 
full  band  of  the  same  sympathetic  race,  in  their  own  tropical  home. 

Captain  Major's  family,  the  only  American  one  residing  here, 
divided  the  care  of  our  entertainment  with  the  governor-general, 
the  Viscount  -de  Sao  Januario. 

The  Goa  where  we  were  received  so  kindly  is  only  by  deriva- 
tion the  Goa  of  history.  Ancient  Goa  stood  eight  miles  higher,  on 
the  same  left  bank  of  the  Xarwar.  Founded  by  Albuquerque,  the 
most  renowned  of  all  the  Portuguese  admirals,  after  Yasco  de  Gama, 
it  was  laid  out  on  an  imperial  scale,  and  surrounded  by  a  wall  and 
fortifications,  which  rendered  it  for  more  than  a  century  impregna- 
ble. An  immense  population  gathered  there.  It  contained  the  mag- 
nificent palace  of  the  viceroy,  the  college,  the  hospital,  the  archiepis- 
copal  see  and  the  halls  of  the  Inquisition,  while  on  every  attractive 
height  was  built  a  church,  monastery,  convent,  or  chateau.  Armies 
two  hundred  thousand  strong  were  repelled  from  its  walls,  and 
imposing  embassies  from  the  barbaric  kings  and  princes  of  the  East 
trod  its  spacious  and  shaded  streets.  One  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago,  it  was  found  to  be  unhealthful  and  was  abandoned.  Although 
life  has  since  disappeared  from  that  once-busy  stage,  some  remnants 
of  its  activity  and  glory  remain.  AYe  proceeded  in  carriages  over  a 
firm  and  well-preserved  causeway,  which  once  resounded  with  the 
tramp  of  pageants  and  of  armies,  to  the  ruined  city.  By  the  road- 
side and  in  the  neighboring  jungle,  moss-covered  monumental 
crosses,  decorated  daily  by  pious  hands  with  fresh  flowers,  indicate 
scenes  of  violence  and  suftering,  perhaps  of  miracles  or  martyrdom, 
enacted  here.  Cocoa-nut  groves  and  mango-orchards  now  shade 
grounds  once  covered  by  bazaars  and  hostelries.  Here  and  there 
a  deserted  palace,  closed  but  not  yet  in  ruins,  testifies  of  wealth  and 
luxury  passed  away,  and  the  curious  tourist  is  warned  not  to  pene- 
itrate  its  mouldering  courts  and  tangled  gardens,  lest  he  come  un- 
aware upon  the  most  venomous  serpents  of  India.  Of  a  hundred 
religious  houses,  only  one  convent  remains,  and  that  has  a  lone 
sisterhood  of  three  nuns.  A  high,  arched  gate,  overgrown  with 
creepers,  is  all  that  exists  of  the  viceregal  palace.     While  the  col- 


TOMB   OF  ST.  FRANCIS   XAVIER.  455 

lege  and  hospital  have  been  renewed  in  the  new  town,  happily  no 
trace  of  the  Inquisition  remains  in  either  city.  The  Government 
has  kept  the  cathedral  and  churches  in  repair.  Tliey  are  built  in 
the  style  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and,  though  fine  structures,  they 
are  less  imposing  and  costly  than  the  churches  built  by  the  Spaniards 
of  the  same  period  in  Mexico  and  South  America.  They  are,  never- 
theless, far  superior  to  religious  edifices  in  the  United  States. 

The  Church  of  Bom  Jesus  contains  the  tomb  of  St.  Francis 
Xavier.  It  will  be  remembered  that  he  was  associated  with  Igna- 
tius Loyola  in  establishing  the  Society  of  Jesus,  and  that  he  came 
out  on  his  apostolate  to  India,  even  before  the  papal  allowance  of 
the  new  order  was  granted.  Perhaps  this  church  was  the  first  of 
the  many  thousands  which  have  arisen  in  all  parts  of  the  woi-ld, 
under  the  labors  of  that  mysterious  community  wdiich  has  been  so 
indomitable  and  indefatigable  while  encountering  so  many  vicissi- 
tudes. The  mausoleum  is  an  oblong  pedestal  of  Carrara  marble, 
ten  feet  high,  panelled  with  bronze  bas-reliefs,  representing  the 
miracles  of  the  saint.  Upon  this  pedestal  is  a  sarcophagus  of  gilded 
copper,  which  contains  the  embalmed  remains,  and  is  enclosed  in 
an  elaborately- wrought  case  of  silver.  The  Grai\d-duke  of  Tus- 
cany only  expressed  the  reverence  of  Catholic  Europe  for  Xavier, 
in  presenting  this  exquisite  monument  to  the  Church  of  the  Jesuits, 
which  is  so  closely  identified  with  his  labors.  The  tomb  stands  in 
a  vaulted  chamber,  the  walls  of  which  are  graced  with  admirable 
devotional  paintings,  but  unfortunately  it  is  so  small  and  dark  that 
not  only  the  pictures  but  the  monument  itself  is  deprived  of  its 
just  effect.  The  sarcophagus  is  opened  at  long  intervals  by  per- 
mission of  the  King  of  Portugal,  and  on  these  occasions  deserted 
Goa  is  reanimated  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  natives,  assembled 
from  all  parts  of  Asia.  It  may  well  be  believed,  as  we  are  told, 
that  not  only  the  faithful  Catholics,  but  even  the  unconverted  Hin- 
doos, confidently  expect  supernatural  effects  to  follow  from  the 
contact  then  allowed  with  the  sacred  remains.  India  is  filled  with, 
traditions  of  the  saint,  and  the  Jesuit  writers  have  carefully 
collected,  collated,  and  published  them.  According  to  these  tradi- 
tions, St.  Francis  Xavier  not  only  relieved  the  poor  with  money 


456  BRITISH  INDIA. 

brought  out  from  the  depths  of  the  sea,  healed  the  sick,  made 
the  dumb  to  speak,  cured  the  lame  and  blind,  cast  out  devils, 
and  raised  the  dead,  by  simple  invocation  of  the  mercy  of  God, 
but  he  performed  more  of  those  miracles  than  the  Gospels  record 
of  the  Saviour,  and  his  chosen  twelve  apostles.  A  resident  of 
Goa,  reliable  for  intelligence  and  candor,  told  us  that,  when  the 
sarcophagus  was  last  opened,  a  lady  well-known  to  him  became  the 
subject  of  a  supposed  miracle.  Having  been  hopelessly  lame  from 
birth,  she  solicited  parental  leave  to  attend  the  ceremony  and 
touch  the  venerated  dead.  Her  skeptical  parents  refused  ;  she 
persisted,  and  in  the  moment  of  contact  she  became  whole,  and  so 
remains.  Our  informant  of  course  ascribes  this  extraordinary  cure 
to  the  influence  of  her  excited  imamnation. 

But  the  homage  paid  to  the  memory  of  Xavier  may  well  be 
regarded  without  cavil  or  regret  even  by  those  whose  education 
obliges  them  to  reject  his  alleged  miracles.  He  surpassed  his  spir- 
itual contemporaries  in  faith,  hope,  charity,  patience,  courage,  zeal, 
and  perseverance.  He  committed  no  crime,  indulged  no  vices,  and 
though  he  tolerated  African  slavery  and  the  Inquisition  in  the  East, 
it  must  be  remembered  they  were  the  errors  of  his  time,  and  he  was 
less  severe  against  the  recusants  of  the  Church  than  in  self-condem- 
nation. It  was  his  noble  maxim  that  the  Gospel  is  advanced  more 
by  the  blood  of  martyrs  than  by  the  sweat  of  missionaries.  He 
found  India  wholly  a  pagan  and  Mohammedan  land,  and  by  his 
teaching  and  example,  using  neither  force  nor  fraud,  he  made  more 
Christian  converts  than  can  be  found  on  Indian  soil  at  the  present 
day.  It  was  not,  however,  for  St.  Francis  Xavier,  nor  the  Jesuits, 
nor  the  Catholic  Church  of  the  sixteenth  century,  to  bring  India 
and  the  East  into  Christian  civilization.  It  must  be  sadly  admitted 
that  this  remains  yet  to  be  done.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  however,  that 
the  great  work  has  begun  in  the  humble  schools  for  native  men  and 
women  which  have  been  opened  under  missionary  auspices  in 
various  parts  of  the  country. 

A  dinner  at  the  palace  closed  the  day.  Although  it  was  at- 
tended by  the  provincial  court,  and  supported  by  a  military  band, 
it  was  animated  and  cordial.     The  governor  was  eloquent  in  his 


THE   PUBLIC   INSTITUTIONS.  457 

admiration  of  the  United  States.  A  throne,  which  stands  in  the 
grand  salon,  although  it  has  no  occupant — the  viceregal  dignity 
having  been  abolished — is  still  respected  on  state  occasions.  What 
interested  us  more  were  the  queer  old  portraits  of  viceroys,  gov- 
ernors, generals,  admirals,  and  missionaries.  Need  I  say  that  we 
carefully  studied  the  lineaments  of  Yasco  de  Gama,  Dias,  Cabral, 
Alureyda,  Albuquerque,  of  Xavier  and  Loyola?  An  artistic  per- 
formance of  Chopin  by  a  young  secretary  enchained  us  until  a  late 
hour. 

On  the  18th  we  visited  the  public  institutions.  The  military 
force  consists  of  two  battalions  of  artillery  and  two  of  infantry, 
maintained  at  an  annual  cost  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
These  seem  quite  enough  for  a  territory  of  only  a  thousand 
square  miles,  with  a  population  of  four  hundred  thousand.  The 
military  academy  trains  one  hundred  and  fifty  cadets,  through 
a  seven  years'  course.  The  garrison  barracks  and  hospital  are 
excellent.  We  looked  into  the  finance  department.  The  reve- 
nue is  six  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  salaries  are  low,  and 
there  is  no  complaint  of  taxes.  The  college  of  science  and  medi- 
cine is  conducted  by  eleven  professors,  several  of  whom  are  natives 
of  Goa,  and  is  well  attended.  There  are  four  newspapers,  three  of 
which  are  conducted  by  natives,  and  all  in  the  Portuguese  language. 
One-third  of  the  population  is  Roman  Catholic,  the  rest  are  Hin- 
doos, Mahrattas,  and  Mohammedans.  The  good  order  and  perfect 
cleanliness  which  pervade  the  little  city  explain  the  curious  fact 
that  it  supplies  the  foreign  residents  of  all  India  with  their  best 
household  servants. 

AYe  drove  with  the  governor  to  his  suburban  villa  on  the  sum- 
mit of  the  cape  which  divides  the  two  rivers.  The  palace  was 
formerly  a  monastery.  Its  chapels  are  now  reception-rooms  and 
banqueting-halls.  Its  cloisters  are  card  and  billiard  rooms.  The 
garden  supplying  vegetables,  fruits,  and  flowers,  is  still  retained. 
The  site  was  chosen  with  the  customary  sagacity  of  religious  com- 
munities, who  seldom  fail  to  find  material  comforts  while  they  se- 
cure the  solitude  needful  for  meditation,  and  natural  associations 
which  sustain  enthusiasm.     The  place  is  not  less  adapted  to  its 


458  BRITISH  INDIA. 

present  use.  There  could  be  no  more  refresliing  retreat  from  the 
stagnant  air  and  burning  heat  of  the  city  than  this  breezy,  rocky 
cliff,  which  Jjreaks  the  ocean-tides,  while  it  looks  down  upon  the 
old  town  and  the  new,  half  buried  in  palms,  mangos,  and  cypresses, 
and  far  up  the  primeval  river-channels  to  their  sources  in  the  moun- 
tains, which  are  lost  in  the  horizon.  Our  minds  were  crowded,  in 
the  hours  we  passed  on  the  turreted  veranda,  with  the  thoughts  of 
the  events  which  had  happened  beneath  it :  of  Camoens  and  his 
romantic  career ;  how,  crossed  in  love  at  home,  he  came  to  this  far- 
oif  and  misty  East  to  make  by  adventure  a  name  with  which  to 
return  and  wed  the  maiden  with  the  "  sweetest  eyes  were  ever 
seen  ; "  how,  after  shipwreck  and  amid  privations  and  persecutions, 
he  wrote  here  his  "  Lusiad,"  and  then  returned  to  his  native  land, 
only  to  find  his  mistress  dead,  and  to  die  himself,  of  a  broken  heart, 
in  an  almshouse.  We  thought  of  the  arrival  of  armed  fleets  from 
Lisbon,  in  the  now  quiet  bay ;  of  the  building  and  fortification  of  a 
great  city ;  of  native  armies  gathered  in  siege  around  it — of  the 
brave  and  chivalrous  defenders  who  defeated  and  dispersed  them ; 
of  the  expedition  of  squadrons  for  the  conquest  of  Aden  and  Ormus, 
in  the  Arabian  Sea ;  of  Malacca,  the  key  of  the  Sea  of  China,  and 
of  the  Moluccas  in  the  Archipelago,  and  of  their  triumphant  return 
laden  with  spoils ;  of  the  homeward  dispatch  of  argosies  loaded  with 
spices,  pearls  of  Ceylon,  and  diamonds  of  Golconda ;  of  the  coming 
in  of  the  humble  Jesuit  missionaries,  their  fortunes  and  their  fate, 
sometimes  received  with  affection  and  gratitude,  and  often  meeting 
the  martyr's  crown;  of  the  baptism  ol  whole  tribes,  provinces,  and 
nations  ;  of  their  subsequent  relapse  into  their  primitive  idol-wor- 
ship ;  of  the  enterprise  of  the  colonists  on  land  and  sea,  extending 
the  fame  and  sway  of  Portugal,  always  brilliant,  but  ending  in  de- 
feat and  overthrow  at  last,  when  they  came  into  collision  with 
European  rivals  equally  ambitious  and  stronger  than  themselves. 
This,  which  is  the  story  of  Goa,  is  also  the  history  of  Portuguese 
colonization.  Of  the  vast  empire  which  Portugal  established  in 
both  hemispheres  on  the  track  of  the  great  discoverers,  there  re- 
main now  only  this  little  province  of  Goa,  in  India ;  the  already 
decaying  city  of  Macao,  in  China ;  and  the  yet  barbarian  colonies 


DEPARTURE  FROM  GOA.  459 

of  St.  Paul  de  Loando,  and  Mozambique,  in  Africa.  Portugal  won 
that  empire  bravely,  she  improved  it  as  she  could  with  the  light 
she  enjoyed,  and  she  lost  it  chivalrously.  The  nations  which 
have  profited  by  her  discoveries  and  conquests  will  not  deny  her 
honor  and  sympathy. 

An  early  dinner  at  Captain  Major's  was  attended  by  the  gov- 
ernor-general and  other  officers  of  the  state,  including  M.  Riberio, 
a  poet  of  whom  it  is  said  we  are  likely  to  hear  more,  through  some 
translations  by  Longfellow. 

The  hour  of  five,  the  first  in  which  tide  would  serve,  had  been 
appointed  for  our  departure.  Mr.  Seward,  as  usual,  was  proceeding 
promptly  to  the  wharf,  but  was  detained  for  a  parting  demonstra- 
tion. The  governor  addressed  him  with  emotion  ;  Mr.  Seward  re- 
pHed  with  equal  feeling.  The  military  saluted  him,  and  then  the 
barge  conveyed  us  to  our  familiar  deck.  Even  when  the  last  of  the 
forts  had  dipped  its  flag  and  fired  its  farewell  guns,  and  the  setting 
sun  had  left  us  only  the  hazy  twilight  of  the  tropics,  signals  were 
still  seen  waving  adieux  from  the  palace  balconies  and  from  the 
wharf.  Whatever  else  of  the  ancient  Portuguese  character  may 
have  passed  away  with  the  decline  of  imperial  power,  the  element 
of  chivalrous  courtesy  certainly  remains. 

The  crew  of  the  Camel  \z  now  obedient.  The  Hindoo  helms- 
man steers  faithfully,  the  ocean-currents  flow  smoothly,  the  iron 
mountain  no  longer  diverts  the  needle,  while  the  compass  has 
been  satisfactorily  adjusted.  Our  captaincy  is  pleased  with  itself 
and  with  us.  We  are  equally  satisfied,  and  go  to  our  rest  with  the 
Bombay  light  shining  brightly  before  us.  Goa  has  been  gained, 
and  the  Byculla  Club  is  not  "  going  to  be  disappointed." 


CHAPTER  XYII. 

LAST  DAYS  IN  BOMBAY. 

The  Byculla  Club. — Mr,  Seward's  Speech. — His  Grateful  Acknowledgments  to  his  Enter, 
tainers. — The  Indies  of  the  East  and  the  Indies  ol'  the  West. — Growing  Civilization 
of  the  East. — A  Progress  Irresistible. — The  New  Concord. — Policy  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  Race. — Miss  Wessner. — Departure  from  Bombay. 

Bombay,  April  'i\st. — The  Byculla  Club  is  less  a  local  society 
of  Bombay  than  an  association  of  the  gentlemen  who  are  engaged  in 
the  military  and  civil  service  throughout  India.  Not  only  Ameri- 
cans, but  foreigners  of  all  the  Western  nations,  fraternize  cordially 
in  its  circle. 

Its  spacious  and  elegant  rooms,  highly  illuminated,  were  filled 
last  night,  and  the  entertainment  was  attended  by  all  the  members 
in  the  city  and  many  ladies. 

The  Honorable  Sir  M.  R.  Westropp,  Chief-Justice  of  Bombay, 
presided,  and  spoke  of  Mr.  Seward's  public  life.  Mr.  Seward  re- 
plied as  follows : 

"  I  have  been  more  than  once  heretofore  kindly  invited  to  meet 
societies  in  Asia,  but  those  privileges  were  lost  by  reason  either  of 
fatigue,  or  some  other  exigency  of  travel.  I  have,  therefore, 
accepted  this  courtesy  of  yours,  as  a  social  welcome  tendered  me  by 
the  Europeans  residing  in  India,  while  at  the  same  time  my  prepa- 
rations for  an  early  departure  oblige  me  to  take  my  final  leave  of 
the  East  here.  Having  learned  much  and  enjoyed  more,  I  am 
oppressed  with  many  grateful  thoughts,  though  the  time  scarcely 


GRATEFUL  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.  461 

serves  for  a  full  utterance  of  one.  "When  the  spring  fills  up,  how- 
ever, we  must  choose  the  vent  through  which  the  stream  shall  flow. 
First,  I  must  thank  you  sincerely,  i^rofoundly,  for  bringing  me  to 
an  acquaintance  with  your  enlightened  and  spirited  association, 
for  bestowing  upon  me  the  honor  of  its  membership,  and  for 
giving  me  this  felicitous  expression  of  its  elegant  and  generous 
hospitality.  I  have  been  frequently  asked,  "  What  do  you  think 
of  Bombay  ?  "  I  answer  now :  "  The  Byculla  Club  is  a  just  expo- 
nent of  a  great  and  growing  Oriental  metropolis."  Two  hundred 
years  ago  this  magnificent  bay  came  to  a  King  of  England  as  the 
dowry  of  a  Portuguese  princess.  "Who  could  then  have  foreseen 
that,  under  British  rule,  it  would  become  the  gate  of  the  East,  the 
Constantinople  of  a  new  historical  era  ?  Yet,  this  high  destiny  is 
one  of  the  assured  and  immediate  results  of  the  Suez  Canal.  I 
shall,  indeed,  continue  my  past  endeavors  to  hasten  on  a  ship-canal 
across  the  Isthmus  of  Darien — a  work  which  can  hardly  fail  to  give 
new  importance  to  queenly  Calcutta.  But  India  is  a  vast  conn- 
try,  and  can  maintain  two  great  commercial  cities,  as  the  world 
already  has  need  of  two  interoceanic  channels  of  commerce. 

"  Gentlemen,  I  owe  manifold  acknowledgments  outside  the 
Byculla  Club.  Please  sufi"er  me  to  make  them  here ;  to  his  excel- 
lency the  viceroy,  and  many  members  of  the  Council  of  India — to 
the  authorities  of  Madras,  Bengal,  the  Northwest  Provinces,  the 
Central  Provinces,  the  Punjab  and  Bombay — to  the  Maharajabs  of 
Benares  and  Putteeala,  and  to  many  other  native  statesmen  and 
scholars — for  attentions  which  have  made  my  travels  in  India 
equally  a  tour  of  pleasure  and  an  interesting  study.  It  I  could 
think  it  possible  that  what  I  may  now  say  could  pass  the  confines 
of  British  India,  I  would  add  not  less  grateful  acknowledgments  to 
the  Portuguese  authorities  of  ancient  Goa,  the  authorities  of  the 
vigorous  Straits  Settlement,  and  the  government  of  the  marvellously 
fruitful  Netherlands  Indies,  as  well  as  the  native  governments  of 
just  awakening  China  and  Japan.  Thus  far  in  a  journey  round 
the  world,  I  have  had  the  pleasant  part  of  St.  Paul's  experience  on 
his  voyage  from  Joppa  to  Pome :  '  So  when  this  was  done,  others 
also  came,  who  also  honored  us  with  many  honors.' 


462  BEITISn  IXDIA. 

"  Gentlemen,  immediately  after  tlie  "Western  diseoyeries  of  Co- 
lumbus, and  the  Eastern  discoveries  of  Yasco  de  Gama,  a  new  and 
significant,  though  inaccurate  nomenclature  obtained  in  geography. 
The  world  was  at  once  divided  into  two  parts  :  one,  the  old  and  well 
known,  the  other,  the  newly-discovered  or  explored  Indies,  which 
embraced  nearly  all  of  Asia,  and  the  whole  of  America. 

"  The  old  and  well-known  Western  nations  came  suddenly  under 
a  new  and  vast  responsibility.  This  responsibility  included  noth- 
ing; less  than  a  regeneration  of  an  effete  civilization  in  the  so-called 
Indies  of  Asia,  and  the  establishment  of  an  original  civilization  in 
the  so-called  Indies  of  America.  A  profound  sense  of  this  respon- 
sibility sustained  the  labors  and  shaped  the  characters  of  Columbus 
and  De  Gama,  of  Chatham  and  Burke,  of  Washington  and  Jeffer- 
son, of  Xavier  and  Heber.  Tell  me  not,  therefore,  that  this  re- 
sponsibility is  merely  a  conceit  of  an  ardent  imagination. 

"  It  is,  I  trust,  gentlemen,  to  a  sympathy  w^hich  exists  between 
the  now  ruling  classes  of  the  East  and  my  countrymen,  in  this 
elevated  and  humane  sentiment,  that  I  am  indebted  for  this  consid- 
eration which  it  has  given  me  so  much  pleasure  to  acknowledge. 
We  may  well,  gentlemen,  cherish  and  cultivate  it.  It  need  not  make 
us  one  whit  the  less  British,  American,  French,  Portuguese,  Italian, 
Danish,  German,  Dutch,  or  whatever  else  Ave  may  have  been,  or 
love  to  be,  to  accept  the  simple  and  sublime  truth  that  comes  down 
to  us  as  an  instruction  from  the  throne  above,  that  whatever  govern- 
ments we  may  establish  or  maintain  amid  the  debris  of  Asiatic 
empires  or  in  the  chaos  of  America,  those  governments  must  be 
established  and  maintained  not  alone  nor  chiefly  for  the  advantage 
of  the  foreign  founders,  but  for  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  the 
native  races  amonff  whom  thev  are  founded. 

"  Despite  skepticism,  avarice,  and  reactionary  resistance,  civiliza- 
tion in  America,  the  Indies  of  the  West,  is  a  manifest  success.  I 
am  happy  to  declare,  as  the  result  of  my  observation,  the  conviction 
that  regeneration  in  Asia  is  equally  proving  itself  to  be  a  success. 
There  are,  indeed,  parts  of  Asia  where  Western  ideas,  principles, 
and  inventions,  are  only  tolerated  with  nndissembled  reluctance. 
These  are  the  regions  which  were  last  reached  by  Europeans.     But 


THE  NEW  CONCORD.  463 

I  know,  on  tlie  other  hand,  those  ideas,  principles,  and  inventions, 
are  accepted  and  embraced  cordially  in  other  portions  of  the  East, 
which  have  been  more  early  and  conveniently  accessible.  Witness 
Japan,  the  coast  and  rivers  of  China,  Java,  Burmah,  Madras,  Ben- 
gal, Goa,  and  Bombay.  There  modern  civilization  is  triumphant. 
Progress  is  irresistible.  The  inventions  of  steam,  railroads,  tele- 
graphs, and  missionary  colleges  and  schools,  have  come  in  good 
time  to  enable  us  to  carry  on  that  work  of  regeneration  peacefully 
and  humanely,  which  has  so  often  been  prosecuted  blunderingly  as 
well  as  cruelly,  w^ith  the  aid  of  gunpowder.  It  cannot  be  long 
before  the  British  Government  will  be  relieved  of  the  necessity  of 
maintaining  an  Indian  army  to  protect  their  possessions,  and  a 
European  army  to  watch  the  Indian  one. 

"  You  must  have  noticed,  gentlemen,  as  I  have,  a  new  and 
pleasing  trait  in  the  temper  of  our  age.  Europe  does,  indeed,  still 
remain  a  theatre  of  international  jealousies  and  ambitions,  but  I 
think  all  the  nations  of  the  West  have  come  at  last  to  an  harmoni- 
ous agreement  that  European  conflicts  shall  jio  longer  be  extended 
into  Asia,  Polynesia,  or  America."     ("  Hear !  hear ! ") 

"  You  like  this  new  concord,  gentlemen — I  know  the  reason  : 
because  it  is  the  harbinger  of  peace  and  progress  in  the  East.  I 
like  it  for  the  same  reason,  and  also  for  another :  it  is  the  saving 
'  Monroe  doctrine '  of  America.  I  am,  of  course,  aware  that  the 
assembly  before  whom  I  stand,  and  to  whom  I  am  so  much  indebt- 
ed, consists  largely  of  Britons.  I  am  an  American.  Our  nations 
are  severed — our  extraction  largely  the  same.  The  very  work  of 
extending  modern  civilization  in  the  two  hemispheres,  of  which  so 
large  a  share  of  responsibility  has  devolved  upon  each  nation,  has  a 
tendency,  perhaps,  to  make  us  rivals.  There  are  passionate  and 
prejudiced  men  in  both  countries  who  would  aggravate  this  rivalry 
into  hatred,  but  such  a  temper  is  in  any  case  insular  and  provin- 
cial, and  unworthy  the  matured  genius  of  either  nation.  I  am  not 
sentimental  enough  to  rely  on  a  distant  consanguinity,  which  is 
daily  becoming  more  remote,  as  an  enduring  bond  of  friendship 
between  our  two  countries,  but  I  have  always  seen  that,  situated  as 
they  are,  on  opposite  sides  of  a  great  ocean,  equally  dependent  on  a 


464  BRITISH  INDIA. 

peaceful  commerce  with  the  whole  world,  speaking  the  same  lan- 
guage, and  holding  the  same  religious  faith,  equally  educated  above 
the  powers  and  blandishments  of  despotism,  and  conscious  of  their 
common  responsibility  in  regard  to  universal  progress,  the  welfare 
and  happiness  of  each  demand  that  they  shall  be  friends,  and  man- 
kind cannot  consent  to  their  alienation.  Far  from  thinking  that 
the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  so  proudly  and  happily  advanced,  will  fall 
into  internecine  conflict  now  or  hereafter,  I,  on  the  contrary, 
steadfastly  believe  that  neither  of  its  two  great  branches  will 
lose  any  thing  of  power  or  prestige  while  their  colonics  are 
increasing,  multiplying,  and  replenishing  the  waste  places  of  the 
globe. 

"My  parting  words  to  you,  gentlemen,  therefore,  are:  Let  mu- 
tual respect  and  cordial  friendship  prevail  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States  of  America,  iintil  British  scorn  of  arbitrary 
government  and  American  love  of  educated  liberty  shall  encircle 
the  earth ! " 

• 

April  22d. — It  is  a  day  of  leave-taking,  and  a  busy  one.  A 
large  representation  of  the  intellectual  society  of  Bombay,  not  only 
British,  Americans,  and  Continental  Europeans,  have  been  with  ns, 
but  also  Parsees,  Mohammedans,  and  Hindoos.  All  alike  express 
their  sympathies  with  Mr.  Seward,  and  their  appreciation  of  the 
sentiments  he  uttered  the  day  before  yesterday. 

While  we  were  at  Shanghai,  Miss  Wessner,  a  Bavarian  lady, 
then  travelling  in  that  country,  gave  an  interesting  account  of  her 
journey  to  Peking.  When  we  returned  to  that  capital,  she  had 
gone  to  Java.  All  the  way  hither  she  has  been  flitting  away  just 
before  us,  but  we  have  failed  to  overtake  her.  To-day  the  bird  was 
caught,  and  a  pleasing  acquaintance  established.  She  exhibits 
great  force  of  character  in  making  alone  an  exploration  of  the 
world,  which  is  universally  thought  to  require  masculine  energy. 
Just  at  the  moment  of  making  this  friendship,  which  promises  so 
much,  we  are  grieved  with  the  intelligence  of  the  death  of  a  friend, 
and  our  countrywoman,  Alice  Gary ;  not  less  gifted  than  true, 
brave,  and  womanly. 


CHAPTER  XYIII. 

FROM  BO  MBA  Y  TO  ADEN. 

Once  more  at  Sea. — The  Steamer  Deccan. — Mr.  Seward's  Remarks  on  India. — Natural 
Religion. — The  Characteristics  of  the  Hindoo  Mind — England's  Hold  on  India. — 
The  Regeneration  of  India. — The  Island  of  Socotra. — Arrival  at  Aden. — An  Extinct 
Volcano. — Wise  Old  England ! — A  New  Stage  of  the  Voyage. — Red-Haired  Negroes. 

Steamer  Deccan^  Ajjril  '2oth. — Once  more  at  sea  !  But  where  ? 
The  waters  which  roll  between  the  Indian  Peninsula  and  the  Ara- 
bian Promontory  are  the  Arabian  Sea.  The  waters  south  of  them 
are  the  Indian  Ocean.  We  left  the  Indian  Peninsula  behind  us  on 
the  22d,  and  are  now  making  a  bee-line  from  the  Malabar  coast  to 
Aden,  on  the  southwest  coast  of  Arabia.  On  which  of  the  two 
seas  are  we?  Our  steamer  is  the  largest  one  of  the  Peninsular  and 
Oriental  line.  Having  three  keels,  she  rides  the  sea  as  squarely 
and  as  smoothly  as  an  American  side- wheeler.  Our  fellow-passen- 
gers being  English,  and  many  of  them  acquaintances  made  in  India, 
we  are  not  suffered  to  feel  that  we  are  strangers. 

While  watching  the  flying  fish  skipping  over  the  unruffled  sea 
this  morning,  which  of  all  the  reflections  that  occurred  to  us  dur- 
ing our  sojourn  in  India  shall  we  record  ?  Mr.  Seward  said : 
"  India  has  a  very  imperfect  and  unsatisfactory  civilization,  but  it 
never  had  a  better  one.  The  native  population  could  never 
achieve  a  better  one  if  left  to  themselves.  Their  whole  hope  of  a 
higher  civilization  depends  on  the  instruction  and  aid  of  the  West- 
ern nations,  and,  taking  circumstances  as  they  are,  that  hope  de- 


466  BKITISH  INDIA. 

pends  cliiefly  on  the  guidance  and  aid  of  Great  Britain.  It  is  a  sub- 
ject for  profound  study  how  it  has  happened  that  thus  far  India  has 
had  an  experience  so  different  from  that  of  the  nations  of  the  West. 
Although  the  W.estern  nations  have  not  at  all  times  been  progres- 
sive, they  have,  nevertheless,  as  a  whole  family,  been  continually 
advancing.  How  is  this  to  be  accounted  for  ?  The  first  intellect- 
ual want  of  which  man  is  conscious  is,  not  that  of  a  guidance  in 
obtaining  a  supply  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  but  a  desire  to  know 
who  and  what  is  the  power  that  created  him,  and  on  whom  he  is 
entirely  dependent.  Man  feels  himself  capable  of  seeing  and  en- 
joying good,  and  also  of  doing  and  suffering  evil.  He  asks.  What 
is  good,  what  is  evil  ?  When  do  good  and  evil  come,  and  how  ? 
Where  does  the  Supreme  Power  reside,  and  what  is  it  ?  Is  it  one, 
or  is  it  many  ?  Is  it  altogether  good,  or  altogether  evil  ?  How 
can  the  Supreme  Power  be  both  good  and  evil  ?  Has  the  Supreme 
Power  created  only  good  and  been  baffled  by  an  equal  or  superior 
power  that  has  interjected  evil  ?  How  could  a  power  that  is 
supremely  good  create  evil  ?  Does  the  Supreme  Power  delight  in 
virtue  and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  or  does  it  derive  pleasure 
from  their  crimes  and  suffering  ?  The  Supreme  Power  has  so  far 
revealed  itself  in  Nature  that  man  can  attain  to  the  knowledge  that 
it  is  a  single  power,  that  there  is  one  God,  not  many  gods,  and  that 
this  one  God  requires  from  man  the  practice  of  virtue,  and  desires 
his  happiness.  This  truth  must  be  seized  upon  and  become  a 
spiritual  conviction.  Until  a  national  mind  grasps  and  cherishes 
this  spiritual  conviction,  it  must  ever  continue  to  revolve  in  a  con- 
dition of  uncertainty  and  doubt  about  the  providential  appoint- 
ments of  good  and  evil,  which  render  it  incapable  of  a  firm  ad- 
vance in  knowledge  and  civilization.  This  is  only  saying,  in  other 
words,  that  such  a  nation  becomes  bewildered  in  the  subtleties  of 
metaphysics.  This  bewilderment  has  hitherto  been,  and  yet 
remains,  a  condition  of  the  people  of  Hindostan.  All  studious 
observers  have  agreed  that  the  Hindoos  are  not  intellectually  in- 
ferior to  the  Western  nations.  They  early  framed  a  language,  the 
Sanscrit,  which  the  learned  of  every  nation  unite  in  asserting  is 
superior  to  every  other  vehicle  of  human  thought;  they  have  ethics 


THE  HINDOO  MIND.  467 

equal  to  tliose  of  Confucius,  and  his  are  equal  to  tlie  morals  of 
Plato.  They  have  many  municipal  laws  as  just  as  the  common 
law.  They  have  skill  in  productive  art  and  manufacture,  which 
has  made  their  fabrics  objects  of  cupidity  and  envy  among  all 
nations.  Their  literature  of  fiction  furnished  a  model  for  the 
'Arabian  Xights  Entertainments'  as  well  as  the  poems  of  Ari- 
osto  and  Chaucer.  They  gave  to  Greece  the  science  of  notation, 
and  they  have  always  excelled  in  mathematics  generally,  and  prac- 
tical hydraulics.  Nevertheless,  the  Hindoos  have  never  known 
how  to  constitute  a  civil  government,  or  to  organize  a  beneficial 
ecclesiastical  system.  They  have  never  even  written  a  history  of 
themselves,  unless  we  accept,  as  such,  fables  which  cover  a  chrono- 
logical period  of  many  millions  of  years,  with  four  successive  ages : 
first,  one  of  perfect  human  strength,  pm'ity,  and  happiness ;  second, 
one  of  a  slight  admixture  of  weakness,  rendering  human  govern- 
ment necessary  ;  third,  an  equal  admixture  of  vice  and  virtue  ;  and, 
fourth,  the  predominance  of  evil,  which  has  only  endured  five 
thousand  years  of  its  appointed  term  of  four  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  thousand !  Unable  to  establish  a  plausible  mythology,  they 
require  us,  in  the  nineteenth  century  of  the  Christian  era,  to  accept 
a  pantheon  of  thirty-three  millions  of  gods  !  It  is  not  fo'r  us  to 
determine  whether  the  pertinacious  metaphysical  bias  of  the  Hin- 
doos is  natural  to  the  Hindoo  mind,  or  is  accidental.  Its  fruits  are 
palpable  enough.  They  are,  a  persistent  adhesion  to  the  Pytha- 
gorean theory  of  transmigration — a  theory  which  equally  subverts 
the  relation  of  man  to  brute,  and  the  relation  of  both  man  and 
brute  to  the  common  Creator ;  a  degradation  and  debasement  of 
woman,  which  not  only  exclude  her  from  society,  but  render  her 
incapable  of  it ;  caste,  which  extirpates  cooperation,  emulation,  and 
charity,  annihilates  the  inherent  conviction  of  the  equal  rights  of 
manhood,  and  delivers  all  governments  over  to  the  caprices  of 
ambition  and  the  chances  of  anarchy.  The  remedy  for  India  is 
and  can  be  nothing  less  than  a  regeneration  of  the  Hindoo  mind. 
The  Mogul  conquerors  attempted  this  by  teaching  the  Mohamme- 
dan faith,  and  enforcing  their  instractions  by  the  sword  of  the 
prophet.     They  failed  even  to  establish  a  severe  despotism.     The 


4G3  BEITISn  INDIA. 

superior  political  science  and  greater  toleration  of  tlie  British 
nation  enable  them  at  least  to  rule  India  in  peace,  but  not  without 
a  constant  exhibition  of  military  power.  It  is  but  too  aj)parent 
that  the  native  population  of  India  have  not  yet,  under  British 
rule,  established  any  firm  advance.  If  the  British  Government 
should  withdraw  itself  from  Hindostan  to-day,  the  country  must 
inevitably  relapse  into  the  wretched  condition  in  which  it  was 
found  by  the  Europeans.  But  Great  Britain  has  a  difficult  task. 
India  cannot  be  colonized  by  British  subjects,  or  European  races, 
as  North  America  and  Australia  were.  Climate  forbids  this,  even 
if  caste  does  not.  On  the  other  hand.  Great  Britain,  now  con- 
stantly present  in  India,  and  in  all  parts  of  it,  with  her  arts  and 
her  arms,  protects  and  cooperates  with  the  philanthropists  who 
come  as  missionaries  and  educators.  These  can  hardly  fail  under 
such  circumstances  to  produce  a  change  in  the  practices,  habits,  and 
languages,  of  the  people  of  India.  The  work  of  regeneration  must 
indeed  be  slow,  for  it  requires  nothing  less  than  the  destruction  of 
caste^  the  restoration  of  woman,  and  the  conversion  of  the  natives, 
if  not  to  Christianity,  at  least  to  a  religion  more  rational  and  prac- 
tical than  the  Braminical  faith.  Through  this  slow  process,  the 
idea  of  the  dignity  and  rights  of  man  may  be  expected  to  develop. 
It  may  seem  sanguine  to  expect  that,  among  the  vicissitudes  inher- 
ent in  all  political  afiairs,  British  control  in  India  will  last  long 
enough  to  secure  this  great  consummation.  But,  even  if  this 
should  not  be  so,  the  Western  powers  which  should  relieve  Great 
Britain  in  India  must  necessarily  assume  her  responsibilities. 
I  do  not  think  her  situation  in  India  precarious  ;  certainly  no  Euro- 
pean power  lias  now  the  ability  to  displace  her  from  the  position 
she  has  attained  through  long  perseverance  and  at  great  cost.  The 
perils  of  British  authority  in  India,  if  there  are  any,  are  those 
which  threaten  the  stability  and  peace  of  the  realm.  So  long  as 
Great  Britain  shall  be  content  to  employ  Sepoys,  and  subsidize 
native  princes,  she  will  be  quite  safe  in  India,  and  during  all  that 
time  the  habit  of  submission  to  British  law  may  be  expected  to 
increase,  and  so  reduce  gradually  the  difficulties  of  the  situation. 
"VVe  have  not  found  the  British  residents  in  India  one-half  so  hope- 


ISLAND  OF  SOOOTEA.  469 

fill  of  the  regeneration  of  the  country  as  this,  but  all  great  and 
benevolent  enterprises,  however  slow  in  progress,  are  sure  to  be 
successful  at  last.  The  regeneration  of  India  is  an  old  talk  of  the 
Western  nations.  It  dates  from  the  invasion  of  Alexander.  It 
was  the  task  of  the  Mohammedans.  Caste  and  superstition  are  far 
less  omnipotent  in  India  now  than  they  were  two  thousand  years 
ago,  four  himdred  years  ago,  or  even  fifty  years  ago,  nor  is  the  con- 
dition of  the  people  as  low  now  as  it  was  at  any  of  those  periods." 

Indian  Ocean^  April  2Qt7i. — We  are  just  passing  the  island  of 
Socotra,  which  belongs  to  the  Sultan  of  Muscat.  It  is  commer- 
cially known  for  its  exports  of  aloes  and  the  gum  of  the  dragon's- 
blood  tree.  Admiral  Cockburn  recently  visited  the  island  with  a 
view  of  suppressing  a  small  slave-traffic  which  is  carried  on  there 
with  traders  from  the  opposite  African  coast.  So  we  see  that, 
although  the  African  slave-trade  has  been  abolished  among  the  civ- 
ilized nations,  it  still  lingers  among  those  which  have  not  been  re- 
claimed from  barbarism.  The  admiral  found  the  inhabitants  of  the 
capital,  Tamarinda,  little  better  than  aborigines,  though  they  speak 
the  Arabic  and  profess  Mohammedanism.  Before  Mohammed, 
however,  they  'were  not  pagans,  for  St.  Francis  Xavier,  in  relating 
his  voyage  to  India,  states  that  his  vessel  entered  the  harbor  of 
Socotra,  and  was  detained  there  many  weeks  for  provisions  and  re- 
pairs. He  found  the  inhabitants  hospitable  and  docile  Christians, 
using  a  ritual-service  which  they  claimed  to  have  been  left  them  by 
the  Apostle  St,  Thomas,  to  whom  they  attributed  their  conversion. 
They  had  never  heard  of  the  Pope,  nor  even  of  the  division  of  the 
Church  between  the  Greek  Patriarch,  whom  they  acknowledged, 
and  the  Bishop  of  Pome. 

April  27fh. — After  eight  months'  travel  in  the  incomprehen- 
sible East,  with  its  stagnant  civilization,  we  are  now  passing  into 
another  region  still  more  incomprehensible  and  hopeless. 

On  our  right  hand  is  Yemen,  once  "Arabia  the  happy,"  and 
still  known  in  poetry  as  a  land  of  light  and  beauty,  but  now  the 
dwelling  of  Arab  hordes,  who  are  sinking  every  day  deeper  into 

36 


470  BRITISH  mDIA. 

barbarism.  On  the  left,  we  are  passing  Soumala,  tbat  part  of 
Africa  wliicli  stretches  from  Mozambique  to  Abyssinia.  It  is 
inhabited  by  aboriginal  negro  tribes,  which,  from  the  beginning  of 
time,  have  defied  civilization.  Thus  we  have  the  same  experience, 
in  our  approach  to  Europe,  as  when  we  listen  to  a  vagaie  and  con- 
fused prelude  which  precedes  the  full  harmony  of  the  symphony. 

Aden^  Aj)ril  2St7i. — Elevated  plains  on  the  Arabian  coast,  too 
distant  for  minute  observation,  were  our  landmarks  as  we  neared 
Aden. 

Many  centuries  ago — we  must  consult  geologj  to  know  how 
many — a  great  fire  was  pent  up  in  the  lowest  depths  of  the  prom- 
ontory that  now  bears  the  name  of  Aden.  That  subterranean  fire, 
becoming  at  last  uncontrollable,  burned  the  whole  promontory  out, 
and  left  it  upside-down.  The  top  of  the  hill  was  gone,  and  nothing 
remained  but  a  huge  cylindrical  bowl,  six  miles  in  diameter  at  the 
bottom,  with  a  rim  fifteen  hundred  feet  high.  Xo  one  knows  what 
that  convulsion  of  IS^ature  was  for,  any  more  than  "  Caspar  "  knew 
what  the  battle  of  Blenheim  was  about.  Everybody,  however,  said 
that  Blenheim  was  a  "  famous  victory,"  and  everybody  agrees  that 
Aden  was  a  great  volcano.  Aden,  thus  hollowed  into  basin-shape, 
is  joined  to  the  Arabian  coast  by  a  low  and  very  narrow  isthmus — 
a  place  so  entirely  desolate  it  has  never  before  been  our  fortune  to 
see.  On  it,  or  in  it  (which  will  you  have  ?),  there  is  not  a  tree  nor 
a  plant,  except  where,  here  and  there,  is  a  patch  which  man's  hand 
has  planted,  scarcely  bigger  than  that  hand,  and  which  he  continues 
to  water  daily.  The  Portuguese  discoverers  stopped  here  on  their 
voyages  of  exploration.  They  found  here,  as  at  Socotra,  a  colony 
of  Syrian  Christians.  The  Mohammedans  from  Mecca  invaded 
them  with  fire  and  sword.  They  invoked  relief  and  protection 
from  the  Portuguese  Indian  capital  at  Goa.  The  Portuguese  in- 
tervention proved  inefiectual,  and  the  promontory  remained  under 
native  Arabian  sway,  and  ultimately  came  to  be  a  province  of  Mus- 
cat. The  kings  of  Muscat  lost  it,  as  they  lost  every  thing,  and  the 
promontory  remained  under  the  control  of  native  chiefs.  The 
British  Government  early  saw  its  importance  to  their  Indian  do- 


ADEN". 


471 


minions,  but  awaited  an  opportunity.  In  1839,  under  the  pretext 
of  redressing  an  insult.  Great  Britain,  witli  sword  in  one  hand,  and 
a  hberal  purse  in  the  other,  seized  the  promontory  and  fortified  it. 


ASEir. 


It  is  now  used  as  a  coaling-station  in  the  European  voyages  to 
India,  whether  they  are  made  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  or 
through  the  Red  Sea.  Aden  commands  the  latter  navigation,  and 
in  this  sense  is  the  key  to  India  and  the  whole  East,  as  Singa- 
pore is  the  key  to  China,  Japan,  the  Archipelago,  and  Australia. 
Aden  is  politically  dependent,  not  directly  on  the  Home  Govem- 
m.ent,  but  on  the  presidency  of  Bombay,  and  is  held  and  main- 
tained at  the  cost  of  the  government  of  British  India. 

Wise  old  England !  How  she  fortifies  her  Island  Realm,  and 
yet  all  the  while  develops  and  improves  the  energies  of  her  people, 
while  she  does  not  hesitate  to  undertake  the  police  regulation  of  the 


472  BRITISH  INDIA. 

world  !  She  knows,  moreover,  when  and  where  and  how  to  estab- 
lish the  necessary  police-stations.  If  jealous  of  the  United  States, 
what  could  she  desire  more  than  that  thej  shall  be  content  with 
complaining  of  the  Alabama  grievances,  hesitate  at  taking  a  police- 
station  in  Alaska,  and  utterly  refuse  to  take  one,  even  though 
offered,  in  the  West  Indies  ?  That  hesitation  and  refusal  recall 
President  Lincoln's  storv  of  the  intrusion  of  the  Universalists  into 
the  town  of  Springfield.  The  several  orthodox  churches  agreed 
that  their  pastors  should  preach  down  the  heresy.  One  of  them 
began  his  discourse  with  these  emphatic  words  :  "  My  brethren, 
there  is  a  dangerous  doctrine  creeping  in  among  us.  There  are 
those  who  are  teaching  that  all  men  will  be  saved ;  but,  my  dear 
brethren,  lue  hope  for  better  things !  " 

Aden  is  a  fortification  and  harbor,  and  nothing  more.  The 
fortification  is  without  a  model,  and  there  is  no  duplicate  of  it,  for 
the  simple  reason  that  the  volcano  shaped  it.  All  that  science  had 
to  do  was,  to  perfect  what  the  volcano  left  unfinished.  The  Gov- 
ernment has  simply  hewn  the  concave  rocky  surface  of  the  crater 
into  bastions,  palisades,  covered  ways,  parapets,  martello-towers, 
and  castellated  batteries,  so  as  to  repel  approach  from  the  sea,  on 
every  side,  and  at  the  same  time  to  command  every  foot  of  the 
interior  area.  The  base  of  the  interior  area  has  two  depressions, 
doubtless  produced  by  two  distinct  eruptions,  separated  by  a  bar- 
rier of  rock,  indicating  that  there  must  have  been  two  volcanoes. 
The  larger  area  of  these  excavations  contains  the  town  of  Aden, 
the  other  the  arsenal.  A  passage  which  has  been  hewn  through 
this  volcanic  rock  connects  the  arsenal  with  the  barracks  in  the 
town.  This  passage  has  a  ditch  along  its  side,  j)arallel  massive 
walls  on  both  sides,  and  a  battery  at  each  end,  commanding  the 
plain  in  either  direction.  The  outer  sides  of  the  circular  mountain 
are  so  steep  and  so  indented  that  they  furnish  deep  and  convenient 
bays  for  safe  anchorage  at  their  base.  The  rocky  precipices  which 
enclose  the  crater  leave  no  sufiicient  space  for  barracks  or  dwell- 
ings. The  population  of  Aden,  including  all  classes,  is  contracted, 
therefore,  within  the  basin,  and  so  under  control  of  the  fortifica- 
tions.    You  reach  this  basin,  not  by  driving  under  the  encu'cling 


A   KEW  DEPARTURE.  473 

rim  and  rising  within,  nor  by  climbing  over  it,  but  by  a  road  bewn 
through  the  rim  itself.  Some  military  critics  among  our  British 
acquaintance  tell  us  that  these  defences  are  not  impregnable. 
Mr.  Seward  asks,  "But  can  they  not  easily  be  made  so ? "  They 
assent.  "  That,"  he  says,  "  is  all  that  is  required  of  any  fortifica- 
tion."    The  force  at  present  stationed  here  is  only  one  regiment. 

The  latitude  of  Aden  is  12°  north.  The  heat  is  so  constant,  as 
well  as  60  intense,  as  to  suggest  the  apprehension  of  new  subter- 
ranean fires.  Sometimes  three  years  pass  without  the  blessing  of 
rain.  It  is,  therefore,  a  severe  study  of  the  government  to  pro- 
vide fresh  water  for  town,  garrison,  and  shipping.  The  earlier 
owners  of  Aden  had  a  considerable  city  within  the  basin,  which 
they  supplied  with  water  by  collecting  the  rain  which  occasionally 
fell  on  the  crests  and  interior  declivities,  and  conducting  it  to  a 
dozen  tanks  or  reservoirs.  The  water  thus  gathered  and  hoarded 
from  tropical  tempests  would  be  sufficient,  if  left  to  its  natural  flow, 
to  deluge  the  bottom  of  the  basin.  These  reservoirs  remain  in  per- 
fect preservation,  and  are  admired  for  their  masonry.  The  walls  of 
each  bear  a  tablet  on  which  is  stated  its  capacity  in  gallons.  The 
supply  furnished  by  these  ancient  reservoirs  is  cjuite  inadequate 
to  the  present  demand  of  the  town,  which  is  provided  for  by  the 
use  of  steam-condensers  of  sea-water.  It  is  a  curious  thing  to  see 
English  artisans  here  using  coal  from  Cornwall,  to  extract  water 
from  the  ocean  to  slake  the  thirst  of  the  savages  of  Asia  and  Africa. 
"Wlio  shall  question  that  the  British  people  are  a  commercial  one, 
when  he  learns  that  the  government  at  Aden  sells  the  water,  which 
it  thus  manufactures,  at  a  penny  a  gallon  ? 

We  realize  here  that  we  have  reached  a  new  stage  of  our  round- 
the-world  voyage.  We  are  leaving,  rather,  let  us  say,  we  have  left 
the  far  East  and  the  South  behind  us.  Though  not  yet  arrived  at 
the  "West  and  the  l^orth,  we  are  on  their  confines.  JSTot  one  Mon- 
golian or  Malay  do  we  see,  only  a  few  Hindoos  and  an  individual 
Parsee,  who  applies  to  Mr.  Seward  to  be  appointed  consul  of  the 
United  States.  The  people  are  Arabs,  Turks,  swarthy  Jews,  and 
Abyssinians ;  the  dominating  races,  Abyssinians  and  Soumalans. 
The  Hindoos  are  servants ;  the  Jews,  bankers  and  pawnbrokers ; 


474  BRITISH  INDIA. 

the  Arabs  and  Abyssinians,  traders  in  coffee,  frankincense,  myrrh, 
amber,  and  ostrich-feathers.  The  Arabs  also  supply  the  people 
with  fruit,  mostly  dates,  and  AAnth  the  mutton  of  the  Berber  sheep. 
This  small  animal  is  invariably  white,  with  a  black  head.  The 
Soumalans  are  not  prepossessing  in  appearance.  We  happened  to 
be  in  our  state-rooms  when  the  Deccan  came  to  anchor.  These 
natives  swarmed  thickly  around  the  steamer,  in  the  smallest  and 
most  rickety  of  all  boats  and  rafts,  to  see  if  happily  some  passenger 
might  want  them,  either  to  carry  baggage  ashore  for  a  penny,  or  to 
dive  into  the  sea  for  the  same  price.  Before  we  were  aware,  they 
were  climbing  over  the  ports,  naked,  except  at  the  waists,  peering 
with  their  large,  yellow-black  eyes  into  the  ship — black  as  Milton's 
darkness,  strong  and  lithe,  with  great  white  teeth,  flat  noses,  low 
foreheads,  and  thick  hair,  curly,  and  varying  in  color  from  carrot- 
red  to  tow-white — Scandinavian  hair  on  African  heads !  At  the 
instant  they  appeared  at  the  vessel's  side,  the  command  rang 
through  the  ship,  "  Close  the  ports ! "  and  a  guard  was  stationed  on 
deck  to  prevent  their  apprehended  larcenies.  Failing  to  find  em- 
ployment as  porters,  they  passed  the  whole  day  diving  into  the  sea. 
On  shore  we  found  invariably  the  same  light  hair  on  the  heads  of  the 
same  race.  "  Yerily,"  we  said,  "  though  in  the  times  of  Jeremiah 
'  the  leopard  could  not  change  his  spots,  nor  the  Ethiopian  his 
skin,'  the  latter  has  since  that  time  learned  to  change  the  color  of 
his  hair."  The  Soumalans  arc  laborers,  that  is  to  say,  the  women 
are.  Blessed  are  the  customs  of  these  aboriginal  Africans,  far 
more  blessed  than  those  of  semi-civilized  Asia.  These  Soumalan 
women,  with  their  glistening  white  teeth,  red  lips,  and  yellow  eyes, 
are  the  only  women  we  have  seen  in  the  enjoyment  of  personal 
freedom  since  we  left  the  United  States,  except  the  Mongolians  in 
the  Nan-Kow  Pass.  This  enjoyment  is  not  perhaps  too  dearly  pur- 
chased, even  at  the  cost  of  performing  the  servile  labor  by  which 
their  black  lords  live. 

The  buildings  here  are  constructed  of  lava-rock,  without  any 
pretension  to  elegance  or  even  convenience.  The  governor  is  a 
gentleman  of  long  experience,  extensive  information,  and  great 
candor.     The  fortunate  coincidence  of  finding  Admiral  Cockburn 


KED-HAIEED  MEN.  475 

here  witli  the  Forte  is  especially  gratifying.  We  have  passed 
the  day  on  shore,  and  concerted  a  plan  for  a  future  and  hopeful 
correspondence.' 

It  is  not  always  safe  to  trust  to  fellow-passengers,  or  hastily- 
made  acquaintances,  for  an  explanation  of  what  you  find  curious  in 
foreign  travel.  We  inquired  of  every  one  how  it  happens  that  these 
black  men  of  Soumala  have  red  or  tow  hair.  The  first  answer  we 
received  was,  that  they  are  the  "  beaux "  of  Africa,  that  they  dye 
their  hair  to  make  themselves  attractive.  Others  answered  that 
the  race  are  red-haired  men.  The  true  explanation  was  given  by  the 
governor,  but  it  requires  some  caution  in  setting  it  down.  Water 
is  scarce  in  this  burning  climate ;  the  Soumalans  use  lime  as  a  sub- 
stitute, and  this  efiects  two  important  savings :  one,  the  expense  of 
soap  ;  the  other,  the  cost  of  a  fine-tooth  comb. 

"Oh,  tell  me,  where  is  fancy  bred — 
In  the  heart  or  in  the  head  ? " 

It  has  often  been  a  study  of  ours,  Wliere  are  fashions  bred  ? 
We  think  we  have  found  out  that  the  fashion  of  long-pointed  finger- 
nails, now  so  much  the  vogue  in  Europe,  is  borrowed  from  the 
elite  of  China.  Prince  Kung's  nails  are  so  long  and  so  exquisitely 
cultivated  as  to  discourage  emulation  in  European  diplomatic  cir- 
cles ;  and  all  the  gold-dust,  diamond-dust,  or  dyes  of  Paris,  are  inef- 
fectual, compared  with  the  lune-wash  of  Soumala,  for  bleaching 
hair. 

'  March  21,  18'72.— It  is  with  deep  sorrow  that  we  record  the  death  of  this  chivahous 
and  pious  gentleman.     He  fell  a  victim  to  the  Indian  climate. 


PART  Y. 
EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  RED  SEA  AND  SUEZ  CANAL. 

The  Gate  of  Tears. — The  Rock  of  Perim. — The  Port  of  Mecca. — Imaginary  Terrors. — 
Pleasant  Weather. — The  Coasts  of  the  Red  Sea. — The  Division  of  the  Races. — A 
Refreshing  Atmosphere. — The  Track  of  the  Israelites. — Suez. — The  Ancient  Canal. 
— The  New  Canal. — Its  Inauguration. — Its  Prospects. 

Steamer  Deccan^  Red  Sea,  A2)ril  30tk. — Last  niglit  we  came 
tlirough  the  Strait  of  Bab-el-Mandeb  (the  Gate  of  Tears).''  Though 
we  had  a  growing  moon,  we  were  nnable  to  discern  either  shore,  or 
the  Roclv  of  Perim,  long  famous  for  its  supply  of  tortoise-shell,  and 
rendered  notorious,  in  our  own  time,  by  the  abortive  attempt  of  the 
French  to  secure  it  as  a  counter-salient  to  Aden.  We  are  quite 
sure  that,  with  the  aid  of  a  strong  glass,  reenforced  by  a  more  pow- 
erful faith,  we  discerned  this  morning  the  Arabian  shore,  and  even 
the  minarets  of  some  town.  We  are  now  sailing  past  a  series  of 
low,  sandy,  uninhabited  islands  which  lie  off  the  Abyssinian  shore. 

3£ay  3cZ. — We  have  just  passed  Jiddah,  the  port  of  Mecca. 
Although  some  of  the  European  powers  manage,  in  spite  of  the 
fanatical  ferocity  of  the  natives,  to  maintain  consulates  there,  the 
port  is  visited  only  by  Egyptian  craft.  On  the  western  shore,  we 
have  taken  leave  of  Abyssinia,  and  now  we  make  the  towering 
peak,  Pas-Elba,  which  tells  us  that  we  have  come  far  upward  along 
the  desert  shores  of  Nubia.  From  the  day  we  formed  our  first  ac- 
quaintance with  European  sojourners  in  the  East,  at  Yokohama, 


480  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

the  one  peril  of  our  "Western  voyage,  which  was  represented  as  the 
most  fearful,  has  been  the  scorching  climate  of  the  Eed  Sea.  We 
have  been  told  that  the  steamer,  driving  before  the  wind,  often  re- 
verses its  course  to  procure  relief,  and  that  passengers  die  in  their 
cabins,  merely  from  the  oppression  of  the  atmosphere.  We  as  con- 
stantly opposed  these  fears,  because  we  knew  that  latitude  would  be 
in  our  favor,  and  we  thought  we  might  expect  to  meet  reviving 
breezes  from  the  Mediterranean.  We  were  right ;  not  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  nor  even  the  Indian  Ocean,  furnished  us  a  more  pleasant 
voyage  than  the  Red  Sea.  The  surface  rufiled  by  the  gentlest 
of  zephyrs,  its  Avaves,  this  morning,  reflect  rainbows  broken  with 
myriads  of  prisms,  as  brilliant  and  as  distinct  as  those  which,  on  a 
summer  day,  dance  in  the  spray  below  the  cataract  at  Kiagara.  It 
is  not  easy,  perhaps,  to  ascertain  on  what  grounds  this  great  gulf, 
twelve  hundred  miles  long  and  two  hundred  miles  wide,  acquired, 
.  so  early  as  the  time  of  Herodotus,  the  name  of  Eed  Sea.  Probably 
it  was  so  named  from  the  banks  of  coral  which  underlie  its  waters, 
and  which  render  its  navigation  dangerous.  Certainly  the  water  is 
not  red  ;  this  morning  it  assumes  a  hue  of  emerald-green. 

Pleasant  as  the  voyage  is,  however,  no  one  expresses  a  desire  to 
explore  either  coast  of  the  Red  Sea.  The  reason  is,  that  such  an 
attempt  would  be  dangerous.  On  the  Arabian  shore,  the  inhabi- 
tants are  relapsing  into  barbarism ;  while,  on  the  African  shore, 
the  people  have  never  been  reclaimed  from  the  savage  state.  This, 
therefore,  is  the  most  forlorn  region  through  which  we  pass  on  our 
voyage.  Nevertheless,  not  only  history,  but  even  revelation,  is  at 
fault,  if  we  are  not  just  now  nearing  the  cradle  of  civilization. 
How  melancholy  a  thought  it  seems,  that  while  we  find  prosperity, 
improvement,  and  progress,  or  at  least  philanthropic  eflort,  attend- 
ed with  hope  in  all  parts  of  Asia  through  which  we  have  passed,  as 
well  as  on  the  steppes  of  Northern  Earope,  and  in  the  most  desert 
parts  of  America — and  indeed  civilization  reclaiming  the  islands  of 
the  sea  near  the  Korth  and  South  Poles — yet  darkness  continually 
gathers  in  this,  the  oldest  and  most  favored,  region  of  the  earth ! 
This  must  have  happened  because  the  two  great  divisions  of  the 
human  family,  the  white  races  and  the  dark  races,  meet  here  on  the 


DIVEEGENCE   OF  THE   RACES.  481 

opposite  shores  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  the  opposite  banks  of  the  Nile. 
They  did  not  commingle,  and  they  could  not  remain  together. 
They  parted,  perhaps  by  consent,  more  probably  by  instinct,  the 
dark  races  retaining  Africa,  and,  moving  southward  and  eastward, 
peopling  India,  Burmah,  Thibet,  China,  Japan,  the  Archipelago, 
Oceanica,  and  "Western  America ;  the  Caucasian  race,  on  the  con- 
trary, leaving  Asia  as  well  as  Africa  to  their  dark  competitors, 
spread  themselves  continually  northward  and  westward  on  the 
European  Continent,  the  islands  of  the  Atlantic,  and  the  eastern 
American  shores.  The  shores  of  the  Eed  Sea  have  been  practically 
abandoned  by  both  races.  How  strangely  this  divergence  of  the 
white  and  the  dark  races  perplexes  the  problem  of  the  ultimate  civ- 
ilization and  unity  of  mankind !  Tlie  darker  races,  following  the 
light  of  Nature,  and  rejecting  or  extinguishing  that  of  revelation, 
have  stumbled,  and  are  scarcely  making  any  progress  since  the  sep- 
aration. The  white  races,  more  willingly  accepting  the  greater 
light,  though  they  also  have  stumbled,  have  reached  a  higher  plane. 
Man  can  go  no  further  in  unravelling  that  perplexity.  The  designs 
of  Providence  are  not  unintelligible,  but  they  are  not  man's 
ways. 

May  t)t7i. — How  refreshing  and  invigorating  is  this  cool  atmos- 
phere, after  the  intemperate  heat  we  endured  so  long  in  India! 
We  are  now  bearing  westwardly  into  the  Gulf  of  Suez — the  west- 
ern of  the  two  gulfs  which  divide  the  Red  Sea  at  its  upper  termina- 
tion. The  eastern  one  is  Akabah.  The  Gulf  of  Suez  contracts 
gradually  from  forty  miles  to  ten  in  width.  The  African  coast  of 
the  Gulf  of  Suez  is  a  desert  table-land,  rising  into  equally  sterile 
mountains.  These  plains  and  mountains  divide  the  Red  Sea  from 
the  fertile  valley  of  the  Nile.  "We  suppose  that  we  have  already 
crossed  the  path  the  Israelites  took  in  their  miraculous  passage. 
"We  need  not,  however,  have  come  here  to  learn  that  the  track  can- 
not now  be  precisely  ascertained.  The  topography  of  the  region 
so  far  supports  the  Scripture  account  as  to  indicate  that  the  exiles 
from  Goshen  might  most  naturally  have  come  down  the  western 
bank  of  the  Gulf  of  Suez,  and  thence  across  the  gulf  to  the  end  of 


482  "EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

the  Sinaitic  promontory ;  thence  they  wonld  have  passed  through 
Edom  and  Moab,  now  Arabia  Petraea,  along  the  eastern  shore  of  the 
Dead  Sea  to  the  mouth  of  the  Jordan.  If  we  suppose,  on  the  con- 
trary, that  they  travelled  around  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of  Suez,  their 
journey  would  have  been  much  longer  and  more  exposed  to  pur- 
suit by  Pharaoh,  but  in  that  case  it  would  lose  altogether  its  mar- 
vellous character.  If  we  assume  that  they  crossed  through  the  wa- 
ters, it  is  purely  absurd  to  suppose  that  any  landmarks  or  traces  of 
the  miraculous  passage  could  now  be  found.  It  is  not  so  with 
their  march  northward  from  the  head  of  the  Red  Sea,  Sinai  and 
Horeb  are  two  of  a  cluster  of  yellow  mountain-23eaks,  wliich  crown 
the  peninsula  and  divide  the  Gulf  of  Akabah  from  the  Gulf  of 
Suez.  "Wliile  it  is  certain  that  we  are  at  this  moment  looking  from 
the  deck  of  our  steamer  upon  both  of  these  celebrated  mountains, 
it  is  nevertheless  impossible  to  identify  them.  On  the  western 
shore  of  the  Gulf  of  Akabah  is  the  port  bearing  that  name.  It  is 
not  doubtful,  however,  that  this  same  Akabah  is  the  Ezion-geber 
of  sacred  history.  It  is  no  nnimportant  part  that  this  place,  now  so 
obscure,  has  held  in  the  progress  of  human  society. 

"  And  when  we  passed  by  from  our  brethren  the  children  of 
Esau,  which  dwelt  in  Seir,  through  the  way  of  the  plain  from 
Elath,  and  from  Ezion-geber,  we  turned  and  passed  by  the  way 
of  the  wilderness  of  Moab." 

"And  King  Solomon  made  a  navy  of  ships  in  Ezion-geber, 
which  is  beside  Elath,  on  the  shore  of  the  Ped  Sea,  in  the  land  of 
Edom." 

"  Jehoshaphat  made  ships  of  Tharshish  to  go  to  Ophir  for  gold : 
but  they  went  not ;  for  the  ships  were  broken  at  Ezion-geber." 

By-the-way,  there  has  been  a  great  revolution  in  exchanges 
since  Jehoshaphat's  timiO.  The  Western  nations,  instead  of  bring- 
ing gold  from  India,  now  carry  the  precious  metals  into  that  coun- 
try. 

Sues,  May  6th. — It  is  difficult  to  say  which  of  the  two  places  is 
the  most  forbidding  and  gloomy,  Aden  or  Suez.  Aden  is  scooped 
out  of  black  volcanic  rock,  Suez  is  built  on  a  monotonous  gray 


ISMAILIA.  483 

sand-beach.  It  never  rains  here,  naturally  there  is  not  moisture 
enough  to  sustain  a  germ  of  vegetable  life,  or  slake  a  camel's  thirst. 
Neither  flood  nor  desert,  however,  can  pei-petually  defy  the 
improving  hand  of  man.  A  stream  of  fresh  water  has  been 
brought  through  the  desert  from  the  Xile,  which  supplies  the  most 
pressing  wants  of  the  town,  and  even  a  tiny  garden  occasionally 
smiles  on  the  desert-shore.  The  Suez  Canal  Company  has  made  a 
safe  harbor  here,  with  convenient  wharves,  upon  which  are  con- 
structed the  railway-station  and  engine-houses. 

Suez,  like  Omaha,  is  a  great  place  in  the  future.  At  present  it 
contains  the  taverns,  storehouses,  and  machine-shops,  which  are 
required  by  a  trade  which  is  only  recently  opened.  Some  trav- 
ellers assign  to  it  a  population  of  twenty-five  thousand.  We  think 
there  may  be  ten  thousand.  All  the  buildings  are  of  stone,  except 
occasionally  a  small  frame  structure  used  as  a  boarding-house,  and, 
because  of  its  frail,  fanciful  construction,  called  an  "  American  " 
house. 

Telegrams  from  Cairo  were  received  on  our  coming  to  anchor 
here,  and  soon  afterward  Betts  Bey,  a  confidential  officer  of  the 
Khedive,  came  on  board,  with  the  United  States  consul-general  for 
Egypt,  and  our  esteemed  American  friend  from  "Washington,  Mr. 
Charles  Knapp,  of  "  great-gun  "  notoriety.  Betts  Bey  tendered  us, 
in  behalf  of  the  Khedive,  a  special  train  for  travel  at  our  own  con- 
venience. 

Ismdilia,  Mmj  6th. — We  shall  not  now  undertake  to  say 
whether  it  was  Sesostris,  or  some  other  Eameses  or  ISTecho,  who, 
seven  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era,  built  a  ship-canal 
across  the  desert  from  Suez  to  Bubastis  on  the  Nile.  Nor  do  we 
think  it  necessary  to  say  that  at  the  period  of  the  first  invasion  of 
Egypt  by  the  Turkish  Mohammedans,  fourteen  hundred  years  later, 
that  ancient  and  important  navigation  was  so  eflectually  lost  that 
even  its  route  across  the  desert  had  entirely  disappeared,  and  its 
channel  has  never  even  been  ascertained.  Some  good  always 
comes  out  of  the  greatest  evils.  Napoleon's  invasion  in  '98  was  a 
severe  scourge  to  Egypt.     But  the  Suez  Canal  is  the  fruit  of  the 


484 


EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 


suggestions  and  surveys  he  then  instituted  with  a  view  to  restore 
that  invaUiable  higliway.  Seventy  years  were  occupied  with 
explorations  to  remove  speculative  difficulties.  These  were — first, 
that  the  elevation  of  the  Mediterranean  and  of  the  Red  Sea  were 
unequal,  rendering  necessary  a  lockage,  dangerous  if  not  impracti- 
cable ;  second,  that  no  safe  harbor  could  be  built  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean coast ;  third,  that  the  deposits  of  the  Nile,  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean shore  have  made  an  oozy  bed,  incapable  of  holding  water ; 
fourth,  that  the  sands  of  the  desert,  near  the  Red  Sea,  are  incapa- 


ISMAELIA. 


ble  of  retaining  water ;  fifth,  that  the  siroccos  of  the  desert  would 
fill  any  channel  with  sand  as  fast  as  it  could  be  excavated.  There 
were  difficulties  also  of  a  political  nature.  The  British  Govern- 
ment was  unwilling  that  the  canal  should  be  built  under  French 
auspices.  The  Divan  at  Constantinople  distrusted  the  loyalty  of 
the  Khedive,  and  was  subservient  to  British  influence.  All  these 
objections,  however,  gave  way  at  last,  and  in  1859  M.  Ferdinand 
Lesseps,  with  the  eflective  support  of  the  then  Khedive,  Said  Pacha, 


THE  SUEZ   CANAL.  485 

organized  <a  company  and  commenced  the  work.  Now,  in  1871, 
although  not  fully  completed,  the  canal  is  in  practical  operation. 
Before  leaving  Suez,  we  examined  the  wharves  and  docks.  We 
arrested  the  train  at  Serapeum,  twenty  miles,  and  at  Ismailia,  fifty 
miles  from  Suez,  and  inspected  one  of  the  deepest  cuttings  of  the 
canal.     "VVe  saw  how  easily  ships  of  three  thousand  tons  can  pass. 

"We  left  the  northern  end  of  the  canal  to  be  examined  when  we 
shall  have  completed  our  trip  in  Southern  Egypt.  We  mention 
now  a  few  only  of  the  more  remarkable  matters  belonging  to  the 
great  enterprise. 

The  canal  is  a  hundred  miles  in  length.  It  is  carried  on  em- 
bankments raised  in  four  successive  natural  lakes,  Bitter  Lake,  the 
Timsah,  the  Ballah,  and  the  Menzaleh.  The  depth  of  the  water  is 
twenty-six  feet,  its  width  at  the  bottom  two  hundred  and  forty-six 
feet,  its  minimum  width  at  the  top  is  three  hundred  and  forty-six 
feet.  It  is  without  locks.  Steam-vessels — as  yet  none  others  use 
the  canal — make  the  transit  in  twenty-four  hours.  The  harbor  at 
Port  Said,  on  the  Mediterranean,  is  formed  by  two  projecting  piers, 
constructed  of  artificial  stone  made  on  the  spot.  In  prosecuting  the 
work,  a  diminutive  fresh-water  canal  was  first  constructed  by  using 
the  waters  of  the  Nile.  On  the  auxiliary  canal,  the  barges  convey- 
ing men,  machinery,  and  supplies,  were  transported.  The  water  of 
the  Suez  Canal,  where  we  examined  it,  is  of  the  same  delicate  blue 
that  we  had  observed  in  the  Gulf  of  Suez.  The  canal  seemed  like 
a  narrow  glossy  ribbon,  stretched  across  the  yellow  desert.  Lake 
Timsah  is  a  large  basin  of  salt-water  which  supplies  what  is  neces- 
sary to  keep  the  canal  at  its  proper  level  between  the  two  seas. 
The  canal-water  is  unpalatable  to  man  and  beast. 

M.  Lcsseps  built  a  house  near  this  lake,  when  he  commenced 
the  work.  He  brought  the  Nile  water  then  through  the  lesser 
canal,  and  planted  a  garden.  Contractors  came  there  to  reside,  a 
town  grew  up  in  the  Arabian  Desert,  equal  in  magnitude  and  rapid- 
ity of  growth  to  Cheyenne.  But  the  Frenchman  made  his  town 
very  beautiful.  A  population  of  fifteen  thousand  gathered  there  in 
seven  years.     Broad  avenues  and  streets  were  marked  over  the 

sand,  and  soon  were  well  paved,  although  stone  is  rarely  found, 
Z1 


486  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE, 

even  at  the  bottom  of  the  canal.  Catholic  churches,  foreign  con- 
sulates, villas,  banks,  shops,  and  all  other  elements  of  the  city,  were 
there.  The  town  was  justly  named  Ismailia  in  honor  of  Ismail 
Pacha,  the  Khedive,  and  became  at  once  a  provincial  capital.  All 
this  was  while  the  canal  was  in  process  of  construction.  What  did 
Ismailia  want  more?  It  wanted  only  the  formal  opening  of  the 
canal  to  assert  itself  a  commercial  and  political  centre.  The  day 
which  the  new  city  so  impatiently  desired  came  at  last.  Ismailia 
determined  to  introduce  herself  to  the  world  by  a  grand  festival. 
The  season  was  propitious.  The  American  civil  war,  which  had 
filled  the  world  with  gloom,  was  ended.  The  French  emperor  had 
withdrawn  his  invading  armies  from  Mexico.  The  "  sharp,  short, 
and  decisive "  war  between  Prussia  and  Austria  was  over.  Not 
even  a  signal-note  was  then  heard  of  the  Germanic- French  War, 
which  last  year  broke  upon  Europe.  The  Temple  of  Janus  was 
closed.  All  the  world  knows  how  the  Khedive  appointed  a  day  for 
a  celebration  of  the  great  enterprise,  the  greatest  of  the  age.  Of 
course,  he  invited  Napoleon,  the  imperial  patron  of  the  work,  the 
empress,  in  the  fashionable  sense  "the  light  of  the  world,"  and 
with  them  all  the  kings  and  all  the  queens,  and  all  the  princes,  and 
all  the  presidents,  statesmen,  warriors,  and  savants  of  the  earth,  to 
come  to  Ismailia.  Nearly  all  who  were  invited  came,  personally  or 
by  representative.  They  were  received  on  the  sea-shore,  and  at 
Port  Said.  Splendid  steam-yachts  conveyed  them  up  the  Nile, 
showing  them  the  Pyramids,  the  ruins  of  Memphis  and  Thebes, 
while  waiting  for  the  appointed  day.  Meantime  the  Khedive,  with 
the  energy  and  the  profusion  of  Haroun-al-Paschid,  built  a  palace 
at  Ismailia,  and  gave  it  all  the  spaciousness  and  embellishments 
suitable  for  the  entertainment  of  the  majesties  of  the  world.  They 
came,  they  passed  in  barges,  brilliant  as  Cleopatra's,  through  the 
canal  from  the  Red  Sea  to  the  Mediterranean.  They  spoke,  they 
drank,  they  danced,  and  they  made  the  dreary  desert  for  the  first 
time  a  field  of  chivalry  and  merriment.  Ismailia  was  happy  in  the 
lofty  discourses  it  heard,  the  superb  pageants  it  saw,  and  the  magic 
entertainments  it  enjoyed,  as  she  was  proud  in  the  prestige  which 
this  magnificent  celebration  confirmed.     All  Egypt  was  happy. 


PROSPECTS   OF   THE   CANAL.  487 

Onlj  a  year  and  a  half  has  elapsed  since  that  magnificent 
demonstration,  and  how  sadlj  has  Ismailia  changed !  We  found 
the  population  of  the  town  reduced  to  less  than  two  thousand. 
The  beautiful  palace,  now  knowing  neither  master  nor  guest,  has 
already  become  monumental.  The  siroccos  blow  the  sands  of  the 
desert  on  the  paved  streets  of  Ismailia,  and  there  is  neither  man  nor 
money  to  sweep  them  out.  Contractors  and  workmen,  their  work 
being  completed,  have  disappeared,  and  no  merchants,  mechanics, 
or  laborers,  hav^e  come  in  their  place.  The  Suez  Canal,  however, 
remains,  a  commercial  success.  European  and  American  steam- 
ships-of- war,  as  well  as  mercantile  vessels  of  the  largest  size,  pass 
and  repass,  but  as  yet  bring  no  trade  either  to  Ismailia  or  to 
Egypt.  They  pay  very  large  tolls,  but  the  company  not  only  makes 
no  dividends,  but  demands  a  new  subscription  of  ten  million 
pounds  sterling  to  its  stock,  to  secure  the  work  against  accident  or 
waste.  The  Egyptian  Government,  owning  half  the  stock,  is  em- 
barrassed, if  not  unable  to  make  the  subscription,  and  reports  come 
in  from  Europe  (how  credible  we  do  not  know)  that  M.  Lesseps 
and  the  company  are  offering  to  sell  the  canal  to  British  purchasers, 
German  bankers,  American  speculators,  or  whoever  will  buy.  But, 
notwithstanding  all  this,  the  Suez  Canal  is  safe.  The  permanent 
interests  of  Egypt,  France,  Great  Britain,  Germany,  the  United 
States,  of  civilization  itself,  will  not  allow  it  to  be  closed.  The 
tolls,  already  ample  to  compensate  its  superintendence,  will  increase 
with  the  steady  increase  of  steam  navigation,  and  that  increase  is 
inevitable.  The  steam-voyage  from  Europe  to  India,  whatever 
rate  of  toll  the  Suez  Canal  may  demand,  will  be  cheaper  than  the 
voyage  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Heavy  freights  can  al- 
ways be  carried  more  cheaply  by  steam  on  the  sea  than  on  the  land. 
All  that  can  happen  or  will  happen  of  misfortune  will  be  that  new 
stockholders  will  obtain  the  stock  at  reduced  prices,  and  the  original 
and  meritorious  projectors  and  prosecutors  of  the  enterprise  will 
lose  the  whole  or  part  of  their  investment.  This,  although  a  sad 
result,  will  only  be  a  renewal  of  an  old  experience  of  public  bene- 
factors. 


CHAPTEE  II. 

FROM  SUEZ   TO    CAIRO. 

The  Bedouin  Arabs. — A  Wady. — Goshen. — Nubian  Troops. — A  Splendid  Sunset. — The 
Palace  of  Repose. — The  Kh6dive. — The  Population  of  Egypt. — The  Khedive's  Im- 
provements.— A  Visit  to  the  Harem. — The  Female  Slaves. — Egypt  and  Utah. 

CairOj  May  (Sth. — From  Suez  to  Cairo  is  one  hundred  and 
thirty  miles.  Leaving  Ismailia  at  five  o'clock,  we  continued  our 
monotonous  way  for  two  hours.  The  desert  has  no  inhabitants, 
except  a  small  force  of  Arab  laborers  employed  in  keeping  the 
canal  and  railroad  free  from  the  whirling  sands. 

On  this  journey  we  have  made  our  first  acquaintance  with  the 
Bedouin  Arabs.  They  were  encamped  with  their  camels  and  horses 
on  an  oasis  of  hardly  thirty  rods  in  circumference,  its  vegetation 
being  due  to  a  leakage  of  the  small  "  Sweet-water  "  Canal.  The 
Bedouin  tents  indicate  vagrancy.  The  encampment  had  no  wom- 
en ;  the  men  are  stalwart  and  handsome.  How  long  will  it  be 
before  these  travellers  of  the  sands,  dispensing  with  their  cara- 
vans, will  be  buying  "  excursion-tickets  "  on  railroads  and  steam- 
boats ? 

It  is  a  singular  contrast  of  man's  enterprise  against  Nature's 
impassibility  that  our  path  through  the  desert  is  marked  out,  not 
only  by  the  interoceanic  canal,  but  also  by  an  interoceanic  railroad, 
and  by  several  telegraph-lines.  Of  these,  the  first  is  the^  Egyptian 
line ;  the  second,  the  European  and  Indian  line ;  the  third,  the 
Suez-Canal  line.     The  whole  of  Egypt,  Upper  and  Lower  included, 


THE   LAND  OF  GOSHEN.  489 

does  not  furnish  sufficient  timber  for  telegraph-poles.     These  are 
brought  from  the  forests  of  the  Danube. 

At  the  end  of  our  two  hours'  ride,  we  crossed  a  broad  piece  of 
interval  land,  here  called  a  wady^  which  is  partially  irrigated  by  one 
of  the  innumerable  canals  taken  from  the  Nile.  This  wady  is  gen- 
erally understood  to  be  within  the  district  of  Goshen.  The  i*uins 
of  a  large  town  on  its  borders  are  said  to  bear  evidences  of  Jewish 
architecture.  We,  however,  can  state  nothing,  for  mo  found,  on 
arriving  here,  a  traveller  who,  having  inspected  the  site,  pro- 
nounces the  claim  apocryphal.  We  came  soon  upon  the  plain  of 
the  great  river,  where  land  and  water  are  always  changing,  and 
found  it  covered  with  tropical  vegetation,  luxuriant  and  abundant. 
We  had  scarcely  entered  the  plain  before  we  observed  troops  of 
lank,  half-famished  dogs,  resembling  the  jackal.  No  one  claims 
them,  and  they  know  no  master — they  are  not  unjustly  described 
as  pariah-dogs.  We  rested  in  Goshen  for  half  an  hour,  enjoying 
the  sumptuous  lunch  which  we  found  awaiting  us  there.  Resum- 
ing our  way,  we  passed  a  large  encampment  of  Egyptian  troops, 
all  black,  athletic  Nubians,  in  clean  white  uniforms.  Next  in 
splendor  to  the  sunset  at  Yeddo,  which  we  have  recorded,  was  the 
sunset  which  welcomed  us  to  the  banks  of  the  Nile.  Beyond  fields 
of  ripened  wheat,  alternating  with  the  springing  Indian-corn,  and 
vegetable  gardens,  everywhere  shaded  by  the  date-palm,  the  Pyra- 
mids towered  clear  against  the  horizon.  Colorless  as  the  rocks  and 
sands  on  which  they  stand,  they  scarcely  attained  a  darker  shade  as 
the  sun  went  down  behind  them.  For  a  moment,  the  monotonous 
coloring  of  sand,  pyramids,  and  sky,  gave  place  to  the  soft,  hazy, 
commingling  of  crimson,  violet,  and  gold,  through  which  the  god 
of  day  delights  here  to  enter  his  dark  chamber  in  the  west.  All  of 
this  came  quickly  to  an  end,  and  the  desert  and  the  horizon,  resum- 
ing their  dark,  leaden  hues,  left  it  uncertain  which  had  absorbed 
the  other. 

Kasr  N'udjii,  Cairo,  May  1th. — Our  reception  at  Suez,  and  our 
journey  hither,  under  the  conduct  of  the  viceroy's  commissioner, 
had  not  at  all  prepared  us,  as  they  might  have  done,  for  the  gentle 


490  EGYPT   AND   PALESTINE. 

hospitalities  we  are  receiving.      This  palace,  "the  Palace  of  Hc- 
pose,"  is  embosomed  in  gardens. 

The  outside  world  seems  never  to  have  come  to  an  agreement 
v/ith  the  Egyptians  as  to  the  title  of  their  sovereigns.  In  Hebrew 
literature,  we  read  of  Pharaoh,  as  if  that  were  a  proper  name,  where- 
as it  is  simjDlj  the  Egyptian  word  for  king.  Khedive  is,  in  modern 
Egypt,  the  title  for  which  the  Europeans  use  the  word  viceroy. 
Ismail  Pacha,  the  present  Khedive,  is  a  son  of  the  eminent  Ibrahim 
Pacha,  and  grandson  of  the  illustrious  Mehemet  Ali,  the  restorer 
of  Egypt,  after  its  ruin  under  the  sway  of  the  Mamelukes.  He 
succeeded  his  uncle.  Said  Pacha,  in  1863,  and  is  fifty -five  years 
old.  By  a  treaty,  which  he  made  last  year  with  the  Sultan,  the 
succession  is  confirmed  to  his  family  in  a  direct  line.  His  deriva- 
tion is  from  Macedonia,  and  his  appearance  is  decidedly  European. 
He  was  educated,  in  part,  in  France.  He  speaks  the  French  lan- 
guage, and  inclines  to  French  tastes  and  affinities.  Arriving  this 
morning,  at  six  o'clock,  from  an  excursion  on  the  Nile,  he  appointed 
eleven  o'clock  to  receive  Mr.  Seward  at  the  Palace  of  Ghezireh. 
Sentinels  were  placed,  at  convenient  distances,  along  the  outer  Wiill 
of  the  palace,  and  a  small  guard  at  the  gate.  The  chief-of-stafi"  and 
other  officers  met  Mr.  Seward  at  the  door,  and  conducted  him  to 
an  audience-chamber  where  the  Khedive  was  standing  dressed  in 
the  Egyptian  military  uniform  with  the  tarhoosh  or  fez.  Receiving 
Mr.  Seward  kindly,  he  conducted  him  through  several  antecham- 
bers to  an  inner  audience-room,  and  invited  him  to  a  seat  at  his 
side  on  a  divan.  Coffee  and  cliihouques  were  immediately  oflered. 
Although  the  Khedive's  countenance  is  dull  and  heavy,  he  con- 
verses in  French  with  ease,  sagacity,  and  intelligence.  He  ex- 
pressed a  high  appreciation  of  the  United  States,  and  especially  of 
the  justice  they  practise  in  international  relations.  He  desired  to 
do  all  that  might  be  in  his  power  to  make  Mr.  Seward's  travels  in 
Egypt  safe  and  agreeable.  Conversation  of  half  an  hour  ensued, 
in  which  the  Khedive  appeared  equally  free  from  pretension,  affec- 
tation, or  reserve.  It  took  a  broad  range,  embracing  politics, 
agriculture,  internal  improvement,  and  popular  education.  Mr. 
Seward  says,  if  he  had  met  the  Khedive  in  a  social  circle  incognito, 


THE   EGYPTIAN   PEOPLE.  491 

he  should  have  thought  him  an  accomplished  country  gentleman 
interested  in  education  and  social  reforms,  or  a  railroad  contractor, 
a  speculator  in  lands,  or  a  planter,  just  as  the  subject  of  conversa- 
tion might  happen  to  turn.  He  has  two  traits  most  admirable  in 
administrator  or  prince — perfect  good-nature  and  equanimity. 

Hardly  had  Mr.  Seward  returned  from  his  audience  when  the 
Khedive,  attended  by  his  prime-minister,  Cherif  Pacha,  arrived  at 
the  Kasr  Nudjii,  to  return  the  visit.  When  Mr.  Seward  presented 
the  ladies  to  him,  he  at  once  engaged  in  agreeable  converse  with 
them,  and  cordially  expressed  a  hope  that  they  would  visit  the 
ladies  of  his  family.  The  well-trained  stewards  of  Kasr  Nudjii 
needed  no  instructions  to  serve  the  guests  with  the  purest  of  Mocha 
coffee  in  the  tiniest  of  golden  cups,  and  the  most  fragrant  Latakieh 
tobacco  in  jewelled  chibouques  with  amber  mouth-pieces.  The 
Khedive  remained  with  us  an  hour,  conversing  freely  on  political 
affairs,  and  the  subjects  of  interest  in  our  travels. 

The  population  of  Egypt  is  eight  millions,  consisting  of  two 
classes.  The  paramount  class  consists  of  immigrants  or  sojourners 
from  Christian  countries,  European  or  American,  They  lead  in 
commerce,  banking,  and  manufactures.  These  foreigners,  what- 
ever be  their  distinct  nationalities,  are  called  Franks,  and  they  re- 
tain, by  virtue  of  treaties  called  "  concessions  "  between  the  Sultan 
and  Christian  states,  their  respective  nationalities  and  allegiance. 
They  are  not  only  exempt  from  the  judicial  authority  of  the  Egyp- 
tian Government,  but  also  from  taxation.  Thus,  they  constitute  a 
governing  class,  independent  of  the  Government  itself.  In  short, 
they  replace  the  Mamelukes.  The  Khedive's  great  difficulty  con- 
sists in  conducting  his  administration  so  as  to  satisfy  this  class  with- 
out arousing  the  jealousy  of  the  natives,  and  thus  avoiding  interven- 
tion by  foreign  powers.  The  native  class  are  of  mixed  races.  A 
small  portion  of  it  are  Copts,  descendants  of  the  original  Egyptians, 
now  Christians.  A  large  population,  principally  near  the  Mediter- 
ranean coast,  are  chiefly  of  Arabian  extraction,  and  are  Mohamme- 
dans. Both  these  classes  are  illiterate  and  poor,  and  are  called 
fellahs ;  besides  these,  there  are  Nubians,  Abyssinians,  and  other 
Africans.      Over  all  these  native   classes,  the   Khedive  exercises 


492  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

absolute  power.  He  taxes,  conscribes,  and  even  confiscates,  at 
pleasure.  But  this  despotic  authority  has  one  practical,  though  not 
constitutional  limitation.  The  majority  of  his  subjects,  being 
sincere  and  bigoted  Mohammedans,  never  cease  to  regard  the 
Sultan  of  Turkey  as  their  sovereign.  The  Mohammedan  natives 
of  Egypt  are  not  troubled  with  metaphysical  distinctions  between 
matters  temporal  and  matters  spiritual.  They  make  it  a  condition 
of  loyalty  to  their  Khedive  that  he  shall  in  all  cases  be  loyal  and 
submissive  to  the  Sultan.  The  Khedive's  administration  is  a  per- 
sonal one,  even  more  so  than  that  of  his  friend  and  late  ally,  Napo- 
leon III.  Every  transaction  of  the  Government  is  conducted  with 
his  personal  knowledge,  and  by  his  direction.  Without  his  direc- 
tion, nothing  can  be  done.  It  is  due  to  the  Khedive,  to  say  that 
his  administration  is  successful,  and  even  popular.  No  nation  has 
a  bolder  projector,  or  more  liberal  patron,  of  internal  improve- 
ments. He  is  reconstructing  the  city  of  Cairo.  Five  years  hence, 
it  will  no  more  resemble  the  Grand  Cairo  of  the  Saracenic  age 
than  modern  Paris  resembles  the  Paris  of  Louis  Quatorze.  He 
has  already  extended  the  Alexandria  and  Cairo  Railroad  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  toward  Upper  Egypt,  and  is  intent  upon 
carrying  it  to  the  Soudan,  the  extreme  southern  province  in  his 
dominions.  "We  have  already  spoken  of  his  munificence  to  the 
Suez  Canal,  but  these  improvements  are  prosecuted  by  him  in  his 
political  character.  Individually,  he  is  the  largest  land-proprietor 
and  greatest  agriculturist  in  Egypt.  They  tell  us  that  he  owns 
one-fifth  of  the  tillable  land  of  the  country.  In  this  distinct  private 
character  he  has  a  private  treasury,  and  credit  in  the  financial  cir- 
cles of  Europe.  His  wealth  is  estimated  in  billions.  The  claim 
that  is  made  for  him,  that  he  is  the  richest  man  in  the  world,  is  not 
incredible.  What  is  more  marvellous  is,  that  he  superintends  his 
personal  estate  as  well  as  public  afiairs. 

May  %th. — Soon  after  the  Khedive  left  us  last  evening,  Betts 
Bey  communicated  the  invitation  of  the  Khedive  to  the  ladies  of 
our  party,  to  visit  the  harem  at  the  palace  of  the  Khedive's  mother, 
the  Princess  Valide,  at  the  Kasr  Ali,  at  eleven  o'clock   to-day. 


THE   KHfiDIVE'S   HAREM.  493 

There  was  a  difficulty,  for  the  hidies,  after  so  many  months'  travel, 
were  reduced  to  black  or  white  morning  costumes.  Although  no 
color  or  form  of  dress  was  prescribed  in  the  invitation,  we  learned 
that  on  no  account  would  black  be  allowed.  A  prejudice,  either 
national  or  religious,  prevails  in  the  harem,  that,  if  any  misfortune 
occurs  in  the  palace  within  a  period  of  six  months  after  a  black 
dress  or  trimming  has  been  worn  there  by  any  Christian  woman, 
the  visitor  is  responsible  for  it.  Through  the  help  of  our  country- 
woman Mrs.  Stone,  the  necessary  dresses  of  blue  and  lavender 
were  procured,  and  the  ladies  repaired  to  Kasr  Ali  attended  by  a 
governess  of  the  young  princess,  and  by  Betts  Bey.  Two  compa- 
nies of  Nubian  troops,  which  guarded  the  high  arched  gate  of  the 
outer  walls,  presented  arms  as  the  party  entered.  Crossing  a 
broad  paved  court,  they  received  similar  honors  at  the  second  gate, 
and  again  at  the  third  gate.  Here  Betts  Boy  stopped,  and  the 
ladies,  as  they  alighted  from  the  carriage,  were  met  by  eight  jet- 
black  eunuchs  in  Egyptian  uniform,  and  conducted  through  a  beau- 
tiful garden  to  the  vestibule  of  the  palace.  As  they  approached 
the  vestibule,  they  saw  that  it  was  filled  with  young  Circassian 
slave-girls,  dressed  in  gay-colored  gauzes  and  muslins,  some  with 
little  turban-hats.  Two  of  these,  wearing  richer  dresses  than  the 
others,  and  displaying  many  diamonds,  took  each  of  the  visitors  by 
the  hand,  and  conducted  them  through  endless  corridors  and  salons, 
the  slaves  following.  These  corridors  and  chambers  were  fur- 
nished with  carpets  of  velvet,  curtains  of  damask  and  lace,  satin 
sofas  and  divans,  great  mirrors  and  crystal  chandeliers,  but  were 
destitute  of  such  works  of  art  and  articles. of  vertu  as  are  deemed 
indispensable  in  a  palace  of  the  West.  With  this  attendance,  they 
were  at  last  'ishered  into  a  salon  not  inferior  in  dimensions  or  con- 
struction to  the  East  Room  of  the  White  House.  The  Princess 
Valide  is  the  first  lady  of  the  state,  taking  precedence  of  the  vice- 
roy's wives  and  daughters,  all  of  whom  are  called  princesses. 
When  the  ladies  entered,  she  was  reclining  on  a  divan  at  the  far- 
ther end  of  the  hall,  one  of  the  "  princess-wives  "  sitting  near  her, 
and  sixty  slave-girls  formed  in  a  crescent-shaped  group  at  her  left 
hand.     The  women  who  followed  the  guests  arranged  themselves 


k 


494  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

ill  a  corresponding  lialf-circle  on  the  opposite  side.  The  visitors 
advanced  between  the  two  groups  toward  the  divan,  and  were 
received  bj  her  Higlmess  standing.  Her  darlc  eyes  are  sharp,  her 
face  expressive  of  great  cleverness,  her  voice  clear  and  pleasant. 
She  received  the  ladies  with  perfect  courtesy,  and  presented  them 
to  the  princess  at  her  side,  and  then  invited  them  to  seats  on  her 
left.  The  princess  w^as  dressed  in  a  long  white  satin  skirt  which 
covered  her  feet,  and  a  black-velvet  jacket  with  long  pointed 
Turkish  sleeves.  A  fold  of  violet  satin,  with  variegated  border, 
was  fastened  around  her  head  with  a  band  of  diamonds,  the  whole 
surmounted  with  a  solitaire  diamond  of  immense  size.  A  large 
medallion  likeness  of  the  Khedive,  set  in  diamonds,  was  fastened 
like  a  "  decoration  "  on  the  left  lapel  of  her  jacket ;  an  enormous 
diamond  graced  the  first  finger  of  her  left  hand. 

The  princess-wife  wore  a  green-silk  dress  with  lace,  hat,  gloves, 
boots,  and  fan,  which  must  have  been  lately  imported  from  Paris 
or  London,  and  her  light-brown  hair  was  dressed  in  the  latest  Pa- 
risian fashion.  The  harem-ladies  confess  being  very  partial  to  the 
European  modes.  They  have  already  ordered  outfits  from  London, 
with  the  request  that  they  may  be  counterparts  of  the  trousseau  of 
the  Princess  Louise.  The  conversation  was  in  Arabic,  the  English 
lady-governess  acting  as  interpreter.  After  an  exchange  of  com- 
pliments, which  were  perhaps  no  more  commonplace  than  is  usual 
on  such  occasions  in  other  countries,  the  slave-girls  brought  on  a 
golden  salver  iced  water,  Turkish  and  Egyptian  conserves,  among 
which  were  sugared  rose-leaves  in  enamelled  cups,  with  golden 
spoons  that  might  serve  a  fairy,  then  chibouques,  one  of  which  was 
offered  to  each  lady.  The  bowl  of  the  chibouque  is  of  the  red  clay 
of  Egypt,  the  stem,  five  feet  long,  of  the  fragrant  Danubian  willow, 
with  an  amber  mouth-piece  eight  inches  long.  The  Princess  Yali- 
de's  chibouque  had  a  jasmin -stem  and  mouth-piece  of  black  amber 
profusely  set  wnth  diamonds.  Etiquette  forbids  a  guest  to  decline 
the  chibouque,  which  is  smoked  by  allowing  the  bowl  to  rest  in  a 
small  silver  tray  on  the  floor.  With  the  chibouque  came  delicious 
coffee,  black,  and  flavored  with  the  attar  of  roses.  The  princess- 
mother  explained  the  condition  of  the  slave-women.     She  says  they 


FRIVOLOUS  QUESTIONS.  495 

are  brought  from  their  native  land  when  quite  young,  and  are  pro- 
vided with  husbands  and  dowries.  "  They  are  very  kicky,"  she 
said,  with  a  laugh.  Two  hundred  were  seen  on  this  occasion. 
They  are  neither  pretty  nor  graceful,  and  appeared,  as  they  went 
through  their  ceremonial  attendance,  like  the  chorus-singers  of  a 
German  opera-troupe.  The  princess-wife  said  that  she  was  from 
Circassia,  without  mentioning  that  she  had  been  a  slave.  "  We 
can  get  no  more  slaves  from  my  beautiful  country  "  she  added, 
with  a  sigh,  "  since  the  Russians  have  taken  it."  It  is  quite  usual 
for  the  viceroy  to  choose  a  wife  among  the  slaves.  When  married, 
they  become  princesses,  their  former  state  being  forgotten.  Be- 
yond these  details,  voluntarily  given,  the  conversation  was  little 
more  than  a  catechism  of  the  guests  on  frivolous  subjects,  such  as  : 
"  How  old  are  you  ?  How  many  brothers  and  how  many  sisters 
have  you  ?  What  are  their  ages  ?  Are  you  married  ?  Why  not  ? 
Are  you  going  to  be  ?  How  old  is  Mr.  Seward  ?  What  does  he 
travel  for?  How  many  sons  has  he?  How  old  are  they?  How 
many  of  them  are  married  ?  Has  he  any  grandchildren  ?  How  old 
are  they  ?  How  many  are  boys,  how  many  are  girls  ? " — and  the 
like.  The  conversation  betrayed  a  provincial  deference  for  the 
Sultan's  harem,  and  for  Stamboul.  Ten  girls  now  entered  with 
violins,  citherns,  and  other  instruments,  and,  arranging  them- 
selves in  a  crescent,  gave  some  very  sweet  music.  When  this  was 
ended,  ten  other  Circassian  girls  came  forward,  in  short  pink-and- 
white  satin  dresses,  covered  with  silver  lace  and  spangles,  long 
white-satin  Turkish  trousers  and  French  boots,  and  began  a  dance 
that,  with  short  intervals  in  which  they  rested  and  the  guests 
drank  coffee,  lasted  three  hours.  These  artisUs  were  somewhat 
prettier  than  the  slave-girls  in  direct  attendance  on  the  princesses, 
and  they  made  a  marked  display  of  their  luxuriant  blond  hair. 
The  Princess  Yalide  told  us  that,  since  the  ladies  of  the  harem 
were  allowed  to  see  the  European  opera  and  ballet  at  the  theatre 
in  Alexandria,  they  have  become  quite  disgusted  with  the  native 
performances  of  their  own  country.  In  our  judgment,  however, 
the  "  shawl-dance,"  rendered  by  the  Circassian  slaves,  is  as  grace- 
fal  as  any  European  ballet,  and  is  entirely  unobjectionable.     In 


496  EGYPT   AND   PALESTINE. 

taking  leave,  the  Princess  Yalide  cordially  invited  the  ladies  to 
renew  their  visit.  In  passing  through  the  antechamber,  dcliciously 
delicate  iced  sherbets  were  served  in  golden  goblets,  then  a  large, 
gold-embroidered  and  fringed  muslin  napkin  was  tendered  to  each 
guest,  with  which  she  touched  her  lips,  and  passed  on.  The  slave- 
trains,  in  crescent  platoons,  followed  through  the  corridors  to  the 
vestibule,  bringing  to  the  visitors  their  cloaks,  smoothly  folded,  in 
perfumed  satin  bags.  The  eunuch  guards  made  the  same  homage 
to  the  guests  as  when  they  entered,  and  the  inseparable  and  invalu- 
able Betts  Boy  was  at  the  gate. 

Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montagu's  incomparable  letters  were,  we 
think,  the  first  revelation  of  harem-life  to  Western  society.  They 
made  that  life  seem  innocent  and  attractive.  It  wears  the  same  as- 
pect in  the  "Arabian  Nights'  Entertainments."  It  is  not  strange  that 
it  should  make  that  imp^'ession  on  occasional  visitors,  who  see  only 
its  elegance  and  repose,  while  the  jealousies,  vice,  and  ci'ime,  which 
it  so  often  develops,  are  concealed.  We  have  been  content  to  speak 
of  what  we  saw,  and  as  we  saw  it.  The  princess-mother  seemed  a 
matron  who  would  be  held  in  respect  in  any  court  or  in  any  social 
circle.  Notwithstanding  the  assurance  she  gave  us,  concerning  the 
education  of  the  Circassian  slaves,  they  seemed,  without  exception, 
illiterate  and  dull.  While  the  harem  betrayed  nothing  of  im- 
morality or  impropriety,  all  the  inmates  except  the  Princess  Yalide 
seemed  simply  idle  and  frivolous.  There  is,  however,  much  reason 
to  believe  that,  if  the  life  is  capable  of  elevation  and  refinement,  it 
will  assume  that  character  under  the  direction  of  the  present  emu- 
lous and  enlightened  Khedive,  who  is  having  his  daughters  trained 
by  Englisli  governesses,  and  his  sons  by  French  and  English  pro- 
fessors. From  our  stand-point,  the  harem  is  the  last  school  to  be 
chosen  for  the  education  of  wives  and  mothers,  of  rulers  and  states- 
men. We  see  nothing  here  to  shake  our  conviction  that  the 
system  of  early  Jewish  polygamy  is  rendered  more  completely 
degrading  to  woman  as  well  as  to  man  by  its  combination  with 
Mohammedan  sensuality  and  jealousy. 

We  cannot  leave  this  subject  without  instituting  a  comparison 
between  polygamy  in  Egypt  and  polygamy  at  Salt  Lake.     Happily, 


AN  EGYPTIAN   GIRL. 


497 


the  institution  as  established  in  Utah  is  free  from  the  odious  slave- 
trade  in  women,  by  which  the  harems  in  the  East,  for  a  thousand 
years,  have  been  supplied  by  Circassia.  Happily  woman,  on  the 
American  Continent,  has  never  been  cm-sed  with  that  odious  and 
disgusting  class  of  police  which  the  eastern  harems  have  had  from 
the  dawn  of  human  history ;  happily  still,  the  forced  attempt  to 
reestablish  the  institution  in  Utah  is  attended  by  the  necessity  of 
educating  the  children,  if  not  the  inmates  of  the  harem,  up  to  the 
standard  of  civilized  Christian  counti'ies.  From  this  contrast,  we 
think  we  may  infer:  first,  that  the  wretched  institution  of  polyg- 
amy is  essentially  and  favorably  modified  at  Salt  Lake ;  and  second, 
that,  even  with  such  modifications,  it  cannot  long  be  maintained 
there  or  elsewhere. 


A  OIBL  OF  CAIBO. 


CHAPTER  III. 

CAIRO  AND   THE  PYRAMIDS. 

The  Road  to  the  Pyramids. — The  Style  of  the  Viceroy. — Interior  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 
— The  Sphinx. — Mariette  Bey. — Use  of  the  Pyramids. — Rapacious  Arabs. — The 
Phoenix. — The  Site  of  On. — Ruins  of  Heliopolis. — The  Tree  of  the  Holy  Family. — 
Mohammed  Tauphik. — The  Americans  in  Egypt. — The  Citadel  of  Cairo. — A  Museum 
of  Antiquities. — Modern  Cairo. — The  Copts. — The  Kilometer. — The  Tombs  of  the 
Caliphs. — The  Cemeteries  of  Cairo  — The  Mosques. — The  Dancing  Dervishes. — Ghe- 
zireh. — Polygamy. — The  Cairo  of  To-day. 

Kasr  Mitdjii^  May  ^th. — "We  have  given  the  day  to  the  Pyra- 
mids. They  deserved  it,  as  they  have  exhausted  it.  From  the 
time,  twenty-five  hundred  years  ago,  when  the  Greek  first  ex- 
plored Egypt,  until  just  now,  a  visit  to  the  Pyramids  was  a  labo- 
rious undertaking.  Whether  the  traveller  advanced  toward  them 
from  Alexandria,  or  only  from  Cairo,  an  infinite  preparation,  of 
boats,  and  guides,  and  camels,  of  donkeys  led  and  donkeys  driven, 
of  tents  and  provisions,  for  a  tedious  and  circuitous  journey  among 
the  dikes  and  canals  of  the  Nile,  was  requisite.  Now,  all  this 
is  changed,  or  at  least  it  has  been  changed  for  us.  The  Khe- 
dive, in  preparing  for  the  Suez-Canal  celebration,  built  a  high,  em- 
banked road,  across  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  to  the  very  foot  of  the 
Pyramids,  planting  it  with  full-grown  shade-trees.  He  constructed 
also  a  fine  kiosk,  at  the  base  of  the  Pyramids,  in  the  desert.  These 
improvements  are  popularly  said  to  have  been  made  as  an  especial 
courtesy  to  the  Empress  Eugenie.  We,  however,  have  participated 
in  their  benefits,  just  as  we  did  in  the  use  of  the  pier  which  was 


THE   PYRAMIDS. 


499 


built  for  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh,  at  Elephanta,  in  India,  We 
made  the  journey,  from  our  house  to  the  Pyramids,  in  open  ba- 
rouches, with  four  horses  and  postilions.  We  notice  here  a  prac- 
tical difference  in  the  style  maintained  by  the  British  Yiceroy  of 
India  and  that  of  the  native  Yiceroy  of  Egypt.  The  former  dresses 
his  postilions  in  the  brilliant  colors  and  graceful  costumes  of  the 
East,  and  caparisons  his  horses  in  leopard  and  tiger  skins.  The 
Khedive  copies  the  awkward  liveries  and  trappings  of  the  West : 
his  postilions  are  French  jockeys. 


THE   PTBAJIIDS   OF  6IZEH. 


The  Pyramids  have  not  disappointed  us,  as  they  do  most  travel- 
lers. Even  at  the  greatest  distance  they  do  not  seem  diminutive. 
We  had  reason  to  regret,  however,  that  the  Khedive's  highway 
did  not  continue  into  the  interior  of  the  great  Pyramid  of  Cheops. 
The  only  entrance  is  by  an  aperture  which  the  Greeks  found 
hermetically  sealed,  and  which  is  now  partially  opened.  This 
aperture  is  now  forty  feet  above  the  ground,  and  is  reached  only 
by  climbing  the  outer  wall.  By  the  dim  light  admitted  through 
the  aperture,  we  descended  to  the  interior  of  the   pyramid   by 

an  inclined  plane  perhaps  forty  feet,  and  then,  turning  at  right 
38 


500  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

angles,  by  anotlier  inclined  plane  a  hundred  feet,  covered  anlde- 
deep  with  the  sands  accumulated  for  ages.  Here  the  guides  lighted 
torches,  and,  making  a  zigzag  way  right  and  left,  we  wallced  half 
bent  along  other  planes,  until  we  entered,  through  a  very  nar- 
row door,  the  lowest  explored  apartment  in  the  pyramid,  called  the 
"  Queen's  Chamber."  It  is  perhaps  twelve  feet  square.  The  walls 
are  of  highly-polished  red  granite.  The  chamber  is  dark,  silent, 
and  vacant.  From  it,  by  upward  ways  not  less  perplexing  than 
dangerous,  we  ascended  to  the  greater  apartment,  called  the 
"  King's  Chamber,"  thirty  feet  by  twenty,  the  walls  like  those  of 
the  "  Queen's  Chamber."  Near  one  end  of  the  room  is  an  immense 
open  sarcophagus,  also  of  red  granite.  It  was  doubtless  prepared 
to  receive  the  remains  of  the  builder  of  the  pyramid.  But  history 
tells  of  no  relics  contained  in  it.  It  is  exactly  in  the  condition  now 
in  which  the  fii'st  explorers  described  it  two  thousand  years  ago. 
The  feeblest  utterance  in  either  chamber  produces  stunning  echoes 
from  the  stupendous  walls.  The  architects  evidently  had  no  idea 
of  ventilation.  Instead  of  coming  back  as  strong  as  when  they 
entered  the  "  King's  Chamber,"  the  ladies,  quite  unconscious,  were 
literally  borne  out  by  the  sturdy  Arab  guides. 

The  Sphinx,  however,  is  the  most  attractive  of  all  the  monu- 
ments. It  is  more  than  sixty  feet  high,  its  human  head  more  than 
twelve  feet  long,  the  nose  four  feet  long,  the  mouth  two  feet  wide. 
Archaeology  bears  little  testimony  concerning  the  conception  of 
the  Sphinx.  It  was  built  after  the  Pyramid  of  Cheops.  Most  of 
the  innumerable  pictures  of  the  Sphinx  are  in  profile.  A  front 
view  shows  that  the  face,  especially  the  nose,  has  been  mutilated, 
Nevertheless  the  expression  is  one  of  supreme  benignity.  The 
Sphinx  does  not  seem  to  wonder  while  it  excites  the  wonder  of  the 
beholder.  The  effect  cannot  be  conceived  unless,  together  with  the 
colossal  figure  itself,  we  bring  up  its  associations.  Taken  with 
these,  the  grim  gigantic  Pyramids,  the  indefinable  debris,  and  the 
cloudless,  treeless,  limitless  sterility  of  the  scene,  and  they  awaken 
in  the  beholder  imafirinations  of  events  and  of  men  of  whom 
memory,  history,  and  tradition,  alike  fail  to  impart  any  knowledge. 
Mariette    Bey,  an  indefatigable  antiquary  in  the  Khedive's  service, 


MARIETTE    BEY. 


501 


has  within  the  last  six  years  excavated  an  area  between  Cheops 
and  the  Sphinx,  in  which  he  found  a  subterranean  temple.  We 
explored  it.      It  is  one  story  high,  built  entirely  of  red  granite, 


THE   SPHINX. 


without  arches,  inscriptions,  ornaments,  painting,  or  sculpture  of 
any  kind.  It  contains  ten  spacious  chambers,  all  opening  into 
each  other.  Mariette  Bey  has  been  unable  to  form  an  opinion 
whether  this  temple  was  designed  as  a  place  of  worship  of  the 
remains  of  the  kings  interred  in  the  Pyramids,  or  whether  it  is  a 
temple  erected  for  the  worship  of  the  god  Anaraches,  who  is  sup- 
posed by  some  antiquaries  to  be  represented  by  the  Sphinx. 

No  unsophisticated  person,  who  for  the  first  time  sees  the  Pyra- 
mids, the  sarcophagus  of  Cheops,  the  newly-disclosed  temple,  and 


502  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

the  Sphinx,  can  for  a  moment  doubt  that  they  are  simply  sepulchres 
of  the  dead,  safe  depositories,  where  the  embalmed  bodies  of  the 
kings  might  rest  in  secure  concealment  during  their  appointed  term. 
"VVe  know  from  history  that  the  ancient  Egyptians  believed,  after  a 
manner,  in  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  They  believed  that  the 
departed  spirit  would  pass  through  a  series  of  migrations  in  ini'erior 
animal  forms,  more  or  less  happy  or  miserable  according  to  their 
deeds,  when  living  as  men  ;  that  this  period  of  migration  would 
continue  three  thousand  years,  and  at  the  expiration  of  that  term 
they  would  return  and  resume  the  bodies  they  had  originally  in- 
habited, and  enter  into  a  new  existence  on  the  earth.  In  accord- 
ance with  this  behef  arose  the  ancient  Egyptian  custom  of  embalm- 
ing the  bodies  of  the  dead,  and  of  preserving  them  in  cases  M'hich 
excluded  the  air  and  other  elements,  and  depositing  them  thus  pro- 
tected in  dry,  rocky  caverns,  hermetically  sealed  so  as  to  defy  the 
prying  search  of  man  and  beast. 

Oiir  exploration  of  the  Pyramids  was  not  altogether  free  from 
the  experience  of  which  travellers  always  complain.  A  crowd  of 
rapacious  Arabs  gathered  from  the  dismal  hovels  of  the  villages 
around,  who  continually  demand  a  backsheesh  for  services  which 
were  officious  and  unsolicited.  Half  a  dozen  of  these  at  every  point 
obstructed  our  way,  under  the  pretence  of  showing  it.  One  planted 
himself  at  the  foot  of  the  Sphinx  to  serve  as  a  standard  by  which  to 
measure  its  height.  If  you  refuse  their  offer  to  carry  you  to  the  top 
of  the  Pyramids,  they  run  up  the  steep  acclivity  themselves  like  so 
many  lizards.  You  decline  their  support  in  walking  through  the 
sands ;  they  compensate  themselves  for  the  denial  by  telling  you 
how  the  Pyramids  and  the  Sphinx  were  raised  in  a  single  night. 
Notwithstanding  these  annoyances,  our  excursion  was  successful, 
and  ended  with  a  pleasant  entertainment  in  the  luxurious  kiosk. 

Cairo,  May  10th. — Herodotus  says,  in  his  account  of  the  Egyp- 
tians: "  They  have  also  another  sacred  bird,  which,  except  in  a  pic- 
ture, I  have  never  seen,  and  which  is  called  the  phoenix.  .  .  .  Accord- 
ing to  the  Heliopoli tan's,  it  comes  there  but  once  in  five  hundred 
years,  and  then  at  the  decease  of  the  parent-bird.     If  it  have  any 


THE  SITE   OF  ON.  503 

resemblance  to  its  pictures,  the  wings  are  partly  of  a  gold-color  and 
partly  of  a  ruby-color,  and  in  form  and  size  it  is  perfectly  like  the 
eagle.  .  .  .  They  say  that  it  comes  from  Arabia  to  the  Temple  of 
the  Sun,  bearing  the  dead  body  of  its  parent  enclosed  in  myrrh, 
which  it  buries.  It  makes  a  ball  of  myrrh  shaped  like  an  egg,  as 
large  as  it  is  able  to  carry,  which  it  proves  by  experiment ;  this 
done,  it  excavates  the  mass,  and  introduces  the  body  of  the  dead 
bird.  It  closes  the  aperture  with  myrrh,  and  the  whole  becomes 
of  the  same  weight  as  when  composed  only  of  myrrh.  It  then  pro- 
ceeds to  Egypt  to  the  Temple  of  the  Sun." 

"We  drove  this  morning  to  the  site  of  ancient  On,  otherwise 
called  Beth-shemesh  (Heliopolis),  ten  miles  northeast  from  Cairo, 
twenty  miles  from  ancient  Memphis.  Of  course  we  found  there  no 
■'images,"  "no  house  of  the  sun,"  no  city  of  Heliopolis,  no  phoe- 
nix, nor  the  grave  of  any 

"  lonely  bird 
"Who  sings  at  the  last  his  own  death-lay, 
And  in  music  and  perfume  dies  away." 

Wliat  we  did  find  is  a  plain,  with  here  and  there  a  iow  mound 
of  pulverized  bricks.  There  is  a  dispute  whether  these  debris  are 
the  ruins  of  the  Temple  of  the  Sun  or  of  the  walls  of  the  city.  A 
monolith  obelisk  of  red  granite  rises  between  two  of  the  mounds. 
It  is  sixty-eight  feet  high,  and  bears  an  hieroglyphic  inscription 
which  recites  a  date  two  thousand  and  eighty  years  before  our  era. 
An  Arabian  historian  of  the  middle  ae::es  describes  another  one, 
which  stood  near  the  present  obelisk,  as  an  embellishment  of  the 
Temple  of  the  Sun.  The  ground  at  the  base  of  the  existing  obelisk 
has  been  excavated,  and  the  pedestal  is  found  buried  to  the  depth 
of  six  feet.  It  is  inferred  from  this  fact  that  the  plain  of  the  Nile 
here  has  been  raised  by  its  inundations  six  feet  in  four  thousand 
years.  On  the  west  and  south  sides  of  the  monument  the  bees 
have  made  honey-comb  dwellings,  which  completely  cover  the 
inscriptions.  The  plain  north  of  Heliopolis  is  strewed  with  rocks, 
easily  detected  as  having  been  formed  by  petrifaction,  of  fallen  and 
broken  trees.     It  bears  the  euphonious  name  of  the  "  Petrified 


504  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

Forest.""  This  is  all  that  remains  of  On,  where  Joseph  found  his 
wife — of  that  Beth-shemesh  against  which  Jeremiah  pronounced 
the  curse — all  that  remains  of  that  Temple  of  the  Sun,  which  was 
the  chosen  cemetery  of  the  Arabian  phcenix,  and  later  was  the 
school  where  Solon,  Eudoxis,  and  Plato  studied. 

On  our  return  to  Cairo  we  stopped  at  Mataria ;  here  are  the 
remains  of  a  garden,  in  which,  according  to  Coptic  tradition, 
accepted  by  the  Roman  Church,  was  the  home  of  the  Virgin,  the 
Holy  Child,  and  Joseph,  in  their  flight  from  the  dreadful  decree 
of  Herod.  They  showed  us  here,  not  only  the  very  sycamore-tree 
which  afforded  shade  to  the  Holy  Family,  but  a  natural  spring  in 
which  the  linen  of  the  Divine  Infant  was  washed.  We  are  told 
that  the  Khedive  presented  the  tree  to  the  Empress  Eugenie,  We 
are  thankful  that  she  did  not  remove  it,  so  as  to  deprive  as  of  the 
physical  and  moral  virtue,  if  any,  which  its  foliage  imparts. 

This  morning  visits  were  exchanged  between  Mr.  Seward  and 
Mohammed  Tauphik,  eldest  son  and  heir-apparent  of  the  Khedive. 
He  is  about  twenty,  handsome,  intelligent,  and  carefully  educated 
by  European  masters.  We  learn  that  his  sagacious  father,  not- 
withstanding religious  prejudices,  insists  upon  Tauphik's  mingling 
freely  with  European  society.  Mr.  Seward  is  also  visited  by  the 
Khedive's  ministers,  some  one  among  them  dining  at  Kasr  Mudjii 
every  day.  Cherif  Pacha,  president  of  the  Council  of  State,  and 
prime-minister,  is  a  very  able  and  sagacious  statesman.  Noubar 
Pacha,  Minister  of  Foreign  Afiairs,  is  an  Armenian  Christian,  spir- 
ited and  well  informed,  but  somewhat  restless  under  the  restraint 
imposed  on  the  Khedive's  government  by  the  Christian  powers,  as 
well  as  by  the  Ottoman  Porte. 

The  Americans  in  Egypt  are  a  mixed  though  interesting 
family.  The  Khedive  is  reorganizing  his  army  on  the  Western 
system  of  evolutions  and  tactics.  For  this  purpose  he  has  taken 
the  loyal  General  Stone  as  chief-of-staif,  and  the  loyal  General 
Mott  as  aide-de-camp,  and  with  these  some  eight  or  ten  military 
men  who  distinguished  themselves  in  the  Confederate  army.  All 
of  these  Americans  visited  Mr.  Seward  to-day.  While  he  expressed 
pride  and  satisfaction  in  finding  his  countrymen  thus  honorably 


THE   CITADEL  OF   CAIRO.  505 

trusted  and  employed  in  a  foreign  service,  lie  nevertheless 
remarked,  with  characteristic  tenacity,  that  he  disapproved  and 
lamented  a  proscriptive  policy  at  home,  which  exiled  even  former 
rebels  to  foreign  lands  ;  but  it  was  due  to  the  American  people  to 
confess  that,  in  no  other  civil  war,  had  the  victorious  party  prac- 
tised so  great  magnanimity  as  the  party  of  the  Union  has  done. 

May  Wth. — Although  the  citadel  of  Cairo  has  been  lendered 
unreliable  as  a  fortress,  it  very  justly  excites  admiration.  Like 
those  of  India  which  we  saw,  it  is  a  combination  of  fortifications, 
palaces,  and  mosques.  It  stands  on  a  rocky  bluff  of  the  desert, 
three  hundred  feet  above  the  Nile,  and,  while  it  overlooks  the 
entire  city,  it  commands  a  view  not  only  of  the  Pyramids  of  Gizeh, 
but  also  those  of  Lucena,  and  a  view  of  the  Nile,  from  ancient 
Memphis,  far  down  the  Delta.  A  well  which  supplies  water  to  the 
citadel  is  an  object  of  much  curiosity  and  interest.  It  was  exca- 
vated by  Salah-ed-dyn  (Saladin),  otherwise  known  as  Yussef-ebn- 
Ayoub,  and  from  him  called  Joseph's  well.  It  is  two  hundred  and 
seventy  feet  deep,  and  consists  or  two  stories  or  chambers.  The 
water  is  raised  from  the  bottom  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  into 
the  chamber,  worked  by  men  stationed  at  the  bottom.  Thence 
it  is  brought  to  the  top  of  the  well  by  another  mechanical  process. 
A  winding  staircase  leads  from  top  to  bottom.  Popular  supersti- 
tion, seizing  on  the  legendary  history  of  the  patriarch  Joseph,  long 
regarded  him,  and  not  Saladin,  as  the  Tussef  who  made  the  well ; 
and  at  last,  by  an  exercise  of  still  greater  credulity,  it  has  come  to 
be  regarded,  irrespective  of  topographical  evidence  to  the  contrary, 
as  the  veritable  "pit"  into  which  Jacob's  pious  son  was  thrown  by 
his  naughty  brethren,  in  revenge  for  his  having  received  a  pretty 
coat. 

We  see  also  in  the  citadel  the  court  in  which  the  Mamelukes 
were  treacherously  massacred  by  order  of  Mehemet  All  in  1811. 
The  magnificent  palace  of  Saladin,  its  audience-chamber  graced  with 
thirty-two  majestic  monolith  columns,  was  injured  thirty  years 
ago  by  an  explosion  which  necessitated  its  removal.  In  its  stead 
was  built  the  last  elegant  palace  of  Mehemet  Ali,  which  is  now 


606  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

the  residence  of  the  young  prince  Mohammed  Tauphik.  But  a 
more  imposing  modern  structure,  however,  in  the  citadel,  is  the 
mosque  of  Mehemet  Ali,  and  the  tomb  of  that  great  chief  and 
ruler.  The  mosque,  which,  by  reason  of  its  advantageous  site,  its 
grand  dimensions,  and  its  lofty  dome  and  minarets,  is  the  most 
conspicuous  and  admired  object  in  Cairo,  is  of  purely  Saracenic 
construction.  Within  and  without,  including  walls,  pavements, 
columns,  and  dome,  the  material  is  Oriental  alabaster.  The 
mosques  we  saw  in  India,  though  many  of  them  have  a  more  ex- 
quisite beauty,  pretend  to  no  such  grandeur  as  this  mosque  of  Me- 
hemet Ali.  An  order  from  the  Khedive  opened  it  to  us_,  not  as 
tourists,  but  as  guests.  The  remains  of  Mehemet  Ali  rest  in  an 
immense  alabaster  sarcophagus,  always  covered  with  rich  tapestry. 
The  cover  was  removed,  and  disclosed  an  elaborateness  of  work- 
manship and  inscriptions  worthy  of  the  restorer  of  Egypt. 

The  Jews,  in  the  time  of  the  patriarchs,  found  Egypt  a  store- 
house of  wheat ;  the  Greeks,  at  a  later  period,  found  it  a  store- 
house of  monuments  and  relics.  With  the  loss  of  its  ancient  policy 
of  government,  and  with  the  exhaustion,  if  not  extirpation,  of  the 
early  races,  the  country  has,  since  that  time,  been  unable  to  defend 
itself,  much  less  to  preserve  those  invaluable  treasures.  The  West- 
ern nations  have  been  violent  and  rapacious  in  carrying  them  away. 
Monolith  granite  obelisks  and  monolith  sarcophagi  of  porphyry, 
not  to  speak  of  marble  statuary,  the  spoils  of  Egypt,  are  found  in 
Constantinople,  Rome,  Naples,  Berlin,  Paris,  Amsterdam,  and  Lon- 
don. The  ornaments  of  its  queens,  the  domestic  utensils  of  its 
people,  their  provisions  and  medicines,  and  even  its  exhumed  dead 
in  their  grave-clothes  and  coffins,  are  exhibited  in  the  same  capitals, 
or  hawked  as  spectacles  over  the  civilized  world  for  "  a  shilling  a 
sight,  children  half  price."  Those  who  have  no  better  opportunity 
to  examine  the  antiquities  of  that  wonderful  country,  may  with 
advantage  study  it  in  those  stolen  monuments  and  relics.  They 
are,  however,  inadequate  to  convey  an  exact  idea  of  the  ancient 
civilization  of  Egypt.  In  regard  to  that  study,  they  are  what 
zoological  gardens  are  to  the  knowledge  of  foreign  animal  races,  or 
what  exotic  plants   in   a  greenhouse   are   to   tropical  vegetation. 


THE   CITY   OF   CAIRO. 


507 


Ismail  Pacha  has  kept  Mariette  Bey  well  employed  since  1863  in 
the  task  of  saving  such  of  these  invaluable  relics  as  yet  remain  in 
the  country.  The  collection  which  has  been  made  is  not  so  vast 
as  the  stores  which  are  scattered  in  foreign  countries,  but  is  of 
vastly  greater  worth  than  any  one  of  the  foreign  museums.  The 
monuments,  tablets,  hieroglyphs,  images,  ornaments,  pictures,  and 
relics,  which  it  contains,  are  seen  here  in  the  very  region  where 
they  were  first  produced,  and  in  just  relation  to  the  difterent  re- 
gions of  the  country,  and  of  the  diiferent  eras  of  its  history. 

May  Vlth. — We  must  drop  the  antiquities  of  Egypt  for  a  day  or 
two,  and  confine  ourselves  to  modern  times  and  the  city  of  Cairo. 


A  8TKEET   IN   CAIEO. 


It  is  a  Mohammedan  creation,  and  was  founded  about  a.  d.  970  by 
Moez,  an  Arab  caliph  from  Western  Africa,  who  called  it  El  Kahi- 
reh,  or  "  The  Victorious."     Its  first  site  was  at  Fostatt .  eight  miles 


508  EGYPT  AND  PALESTIirE. 

up  the  river.  The  original  site  is  now  called  Old  Cairo.  The  gov- 
ernment transferred  its  seat  from  Old  Cairo  to  the  present  city  in 
the  tweh'th  century.  Our  visit  to  the  old  city  was  full  of  interest. 
There  is  the  "  House  of  Light "  (Kasr-ech-chama),  which,  like  the 
citadel  at  Xew  Cairo,  was  at  once  a  citadel  and  a  palace  of  the  first 
Mussulman  rulers.  From  some  unknown  cause,  this  great  Mussul- 
man ruin  has  become  the  retreat  and  home  of  the  Copts.  Though 
they  have  partially  mixed  their  blood  with  their  Nubian  and  Ara- 
bian neighbors  on  either  side,  they  are  universally  recognized  as 
the  only  true  descendants  of  the  ancient  Egyptian  race.  They  ac- 
cepted Christianity  in  the  first  century,  and,  adopting  the  asceti- 
cism which  was  aft'ected  by  the  disciples  of  our  faith  in  that  early 
period,  they  incorporated  a  church  with  a  powerful  hierarchy  and 
monastic  institutions,  the  models  perhaps  of  those  institutions  that 
have  so  long  existed  throughout  Christendom.  They  established  a 
litany.  Although  now  reduced  in  number  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  in  Egypt,  they  still  preserve  their  hierarchy,  those 
monastic  institutions,  and  that  litany.  Iff  the  great  theological 
dispute  which  distracted  Christendom  from  the  fourth  century  to 
the  tenth,  they  rejected  equally  the  supremacy  of  the  Patriarch  at 
Constantinople  and  that  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  In  the  main 
they  go  with  the  Roman  Church  in  requiring  celibacy  for  the  clergy, 
while  they  adhere  with  the  Greek  Church  to  the  abstruse  meta- 
physical doctrines  that,  after  the  incarnation  of  the  Saviour,  His 
nature  was  one,  and  not  a  double  nature,  and  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
"proceeds,"  not  "from  the  Father  and  the  Son,"  but  from  the  Fa- 
ther alone. 

The  Copts  have  at  least  two  convents,  perhaps  more,  in  the  old 
"House  of  Light."  We  visited  that  of  St.  George;  a  part  of  it  is, 
beyond  all  doubt,  much  older  than  modern  Cairo.  This  part  is  a 
cave,  in  which  there  is  a  Christian  church,  which  contains  carvings, 
pictures,  and  inscriptions,  illustrating  the  Nativity  and  the  sojourn 
of  the  Holy  Family  in  Egypt.  The  Copts  universally  hold  to  the 
tradition  that  Joseph,  Mary,  and  the  child,  dwelt  in  this  cave,  and 
that  the  church  was  built  on  the  consecrated  place  to  preserve  it. 
The  cave,  or,  as  it  is  here  called,  the  grotto,  is  divided  into  three 


THE  TOMBS  OF  CALIPHS,  509 

chambers,  an  outer,  an  interior,  and  a  middle  one.  In  the  first  is  a 
Coptic  baptismal  font ;  in  the  second,  within  a  niche,  a  stone  bear- 
ing the  impress  of  the  Saviour's  foot ;  in  the  third,  a  similar  track. 

The  so-called  Tombs  of  the  Caliphs  constitute  a  feature  of  Cairo 
which  no  traveller  neglects.  They  are  situated  just  outside  of  the 
Bab-el-Nini  (Gate  of  Victory).  They  are  the  tombs,  however,  not 
of  the  Mohammedan  conquerors,  but  of  their  Mameluke  successors. 
These  structures,  like  the  imambarras  of  the  Moguls,  are  mosques. 
They  are  fine  specimens  of  the  Saracenic  style,  but  have  no  pre-  • 
tension  to  grandeur.  Surrounded  by  the  sands  of  the  Desert,  they 
are  falling  to  decay  and  dilapidation.  Many  of  them  contain  fine 
Arabesque  wood  carvings.  A  visit  to  the  sepulchres  of  the  count- 
less sovereigns  of  Egypt  may  well  make  one  doubt  whether  the 
ambition  to  be  remembered  after  death  is  even  wise.  At  least  it  is 
possible  to  be  remembered  too  long.  "Who  cares  now  for  Cheops, 
even  if  his  ashes  still  remain  secure  within  his  majestic  tonib'i 
Who  is  there  living  now  to  honor  or  delight  in  the  memory  of 
Sesostris  or  Rameses  ?  Who  can  envy  the  Mameluke  Sultans, 
whose  tombs  are  resolving  themselves  into  the  sands  of  the  desert, 
while  their  hated  race  has  been  extirpated  from  the  country  over 
which  they  tyrannized  ? 

It  was  a  relief,  after  an  inspection  of  the  tombs  of  the  Mame- 
hikes,  to  visit  the  modern  cemeteries  of  Cairo.  The  ruling 
family,  and  perhaps  others,  occasionally  build  mosques  over  their 
tombs,  but  smaller  and  less  imposing  even  than  those  of  the  Mame- 
lukes. The  Khedive  has  erected  a  mosque  which  covers  the  re- 
mains of  Said  Pacha  and  other  members  of  his  family.  Here,  as  in 
most  of  the  monumental  mosques,  prayers  are  hourly  chanted,  year 
after  year,  by  lay  readers  employed  for  that  purpose.  The  tombs 
are  invariably  of  white  marble,  gaudily  painted  in  oil.  A  carved 
tarboosh  at  the  head  of  the  monument  indicates  that  the  sleeper  is 
a  man ;  a  veil,  that  it  is  a  woman. 

Cairo  has  three  hundred  mosques.  This  is  only  saying  in  an- 
other way  that  Cairo  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  all  cities,  inso- 
much as  the  gentle  slope  of  its  site,  from  the  desert  to  the  river- 
bank,  allows  every  imposing  structure  its  full  effect ;  and,  of  all 


510 


EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 


architectural  forms,  the  mosque,  with  its  always  graceful  domes  and 
slender  minarets,  is  the  most  pleasing.  The  Mosque  of  Amrou, 
lieutenant  of  the  Caliph  Omar,  in  the  old  city,  built  in  €42,  is  not 
only  the  oldest  mosque  of  Cairo,  but  the  oldest  in  the  world.  In  a 
state  of  dilapidation,  enough  only  of  the  structure  remains  to  give 
an  idea  of  its  original  grandeur  and  simplicity.     The  columns  of 


MUSQUE   AND    HOUSES    IN    CAIRO. 


granite  and  porphyry,  which  it  borrowed  from  the  temples  of  a 
more  ancient  worship  at  Memphis,  have  disappeared,  and  the  mar- 
ble tablets,  on  which  the  full  text  of  the  Koran  was  written,  have 
gone  with  them. 

Next  after  the  Mosque  of  Mehemet  Ali,  already  described,  the 
most  important  is  that  of  Ahmed-ebn-Souloun,  built  in  877,  in  the 


THE   MOSQUES   OF   CAIRO.  5H 

earliest  Saracenic  style.  It  is  two  hundred  feet  by  one  liimdred. 
Another  very  grand  mosque  of  Azhar,  though  built  nine  hundred 
years  ago,  was  repaired  in  1672,  and  is  in  admirable  preservation. 
Its  principal  use,  however,  is  not  that  of  religious  worship.  It  is 
the  most  popular  university  in  Egypt,  The  scientific  course  pur- 
sued here  embraces  the  Koran,  versification,  grammar,  civil  law, 
commercial  law,  and  ecclesiastical  law.  Two  thousand  students,  of 
diflerent  ages  and  sizes,  sit  on  the  floor  in  circles,  whose  circum- 
ference is  as  regular  as  if  they  had  been  described,  by  the  com- 
pass. They  sit  cross-legged,  facing  inward,  while  the  professors 
stand  at  convenient  distances  so  as  to  hear  and  instruct  several 
circles.  Each  student  has  a  book  before  him,  and  commits  its  text 
to  memory  by  rehearsal,  constantly  swinging  backward  and  for- 
ward during  the  exercise,  not  only  the  students  in  one  circle,  but 
all  the  students  in  all  the  circles  rehearsing  in  chorus.  We  inquired 
in  which  of  the  schools  of  philosophy  of  ancient  Egypt  this  form  of 
instruction  was  instituted,  but  received  no  satisfactory  answer.  We 
think  it  must  have  originated  at  the  Tower  of  Babel ! 

Mosques  in  Mohammedan  cities,  like  temples  in  pagan  coun- 
tries and  churches  in  a  Christian  land,  are  so  much  alike,  that  wan- 
dering through  them  becomes  monotonous.  We  finished  our  tour 
with  a  visit  to  a  mosque  of  dancing  dervishes.  The  mosque  is  a 
rude,  unfurnished  structure,  containing  one  square  room  for  men, 
with  a  circular  gallery  for  women.  It  is  open  to  spectators,  though 
few  were  present  on  this  occasion.  The  brethren  came  into  the 
chamber  and  took  seats  on  the  floor  within  the  railing.  They  wore 
a  uniform  habit,  consisting  of  brown  serge,  extending  from  neck  to 
feet,  with  full  skirt,  and  fastened  with  a  girdle,  and  a  round,  high 
hat  made  of  gray  felt.  It  was  easy  to  see  that  they  arrayed  them- 
selves according  to  fixed  order.  The  sheik  entered  and  took  his 
seat  on  the  floor,  directly  opposite  to  the  lay  members.  His  cos- 
tume differed  from  theirs  only  in  being  of  a  purple  color.  When 
he  had  taken  his  seat,  a  brother  rose,  walked  slowly  around  the 
chamber,  and  made  a  salutation  to  the  superior.  Each  other  broth- 
er followed  performing  the  same  ceremony.  A  strain  of  solemn 
music,  on  the  flute,  was  heard  from  an  upper  recess,  whereupon 


512 


EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 


the  brotliers  rose,  one  after  another,  and  began  a  whirling  motion, 
at  first  slow,  but  gradually  increasing  in  rapidity,  the  right  arm 
stretched  upward  and  the  left  correspondingly  depressed,  as  a  bal- 


INTERIOR   OF   A    MOSQrE.   CAIEO. 


ance.  Their  full,  heavy  shirts  had  weights  at  the  bottom  which 
held  them  down  while  they  expanded  like  round  sails  with  the 
movement.  This  dizzy  exercise  continued  until  the  entire  body  of 
the  brotherhood  were  spinning  around  like  so  many  tops,  their 
dresses  spreading  out  over  their  feet.  The  perfomiance  had  lasted, 
as  we  thought,  about  an  hour,  when  the  music  suddenly  ceased,  as 
if  the  musicians  instead  of  the  dancers  had  given  out,  and,  on  the 
instant  of  the  music  ceasing,  they  came  to  a  rest.  Then  they 
walked  in   solemn  procession  around   the  room,  each   making  a 


GHEZIREH.  513 

salam  to  the  superior.  All  the  dervishes  were  men  of  full  age. 
save  one,  a  boy  of  twelve,  who  for  some  reason  seemed  to  be  held 
in  great  respect  as  a  leader.  Pie  whirled  with  greater  gravity,  if 
possible,  than  his  companions.  We  supposed  him  to  be  designated 
by  birth  or  some  other  cause  for  preferment.  The  dervishes 
withdrew  from  the  mosque  without  any  manifestations  of  sancti- 
mony, and,  when  we  met  them  after  the  exercises,  they  seemed  to 
us  as  cheerful  and  business-like  as  mechanics  and  artisans.  They 
made  no  show  of  mendicity.  It  would  be  a  curious  study  to  trace 
to  their  source,  in  a  common  principle  of  human  nature,  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Shakers  in  our  own  country  and  that  of  the  dancing 
dervishes  of  the  East. 

Having  been  received  by  the  Khedive  and  his  family,  and  domi- 
ciled in  one  of  the  state  palaces,  it  would  have  seemed  to  us  a  mani- 
festation of  unbecoming  curiosity  to  v^sit  the  other  viceroyal 
residences.  But  the  palaces  of  princes  are  objects  of  pride  to  them, 
as  villas,  mansions,  and  cottages,  are  to  humbler  proprietors.  The 
Khedive  intimated  to  us  that  the  ladies  ot  his  family  would  have 
notice  of  our  coming,  and  so  our  visits  to  the  other  palaces  would 
not  take  them  by  surprise.  Most  of  these  palaces  are  simpler  and 
plainer,  and  more  after  the  European  style,  than  we  had  supposed. 
Shobia  is  the  most  pleasant  one.  It  is  a  palace  built  and  arranged 
in  a  quadrangular  form,  exclusively  for  social  entertainments,  and 
encloses  a  lake  of  two  or  three  acres,  which  is  filled  with  curious 
fishes,  and  rare  aquatic  birds.  All  its  halls,  corridors,  reception- 
rooms,  banqueting-halls,  billiard-rooms,  and  baths,  connect  with 
each  other.  The  Khedive  has  been  especially  lavish  in  enlarging 
and  embellishing  Ghezireh,  which  is  the  most  favored  home  of  the 
princesses,  although  they  always  attend  him  wherever  he  resides  or 
sojourns.  It  was  manifest,  on  arriving  there,  that  the  Khedive's 
instruction  for  an  admission  had  not  yet  reached  the  palace.  The 
Nubian  eunuchs  drew  swords  upon  us.  "We  sauntered  in  the  gar- 
dens while  waiting  for  the  necessary  explanations  to  be  made. 
These  gardens  are  laid  out  on  the  European  plan,  and  exhibit  a 
blaze  of  scarlet  geraniums,  and  yellow  flowering  plants,  without  a 
trace  of  white,  blue,  or  purple.     Chinese  gardening  has  been  adopted 


514  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

to  produce  a  rocky  mound  on  an  island,  in  a  pretty  artificial  lake, 
and  in  the  mound  is  a  picturesque  labyrintliian  grotto,  divided  into 
Moorish  chambers,  refreshment-rooms,  drawing-rooms,  and  pavil- 
ions ;  while  light  is  flashed  upon  you  at  every  turn  by  innumerable 
stalactites,  mirrors,  fountains,  and  cascades.  Coming  upon  earth 
again,  from  this  fairy  subterranean  maze,  we  wandered  through 
the  extensive  menagerie,  meeting,  on  the  way,  the  princess-wife, 
whom  the  ladies  had  seen  at  Kasr  Ali.  She  was  enjoying  a  sunset 
promenade,  attended  by  a  long  train  of  ladies,  slave-girls,  and 
inevitable  eunuchs.  The  princess  was  arrayed  in  a  dress  of  orange- 
and-white  shot  silk,  which  completely  enveloped  her  tall,  graceful 
figure,  and  covered  the  lower  part  of  her  face.  Her  eyes  were  par- 
tially veiled  with  the  customary,  very  becoming,  single  fold  of  white 
illusion.  She  interposed  her  little  green  parasol  between  her  eyes 
and  our  party  as  dexterously  as  a  Broadway  coquette.  The  women 
of  the  seraglio  were  looking  down  upon  us  through  latticed  win- 
dows, when  the  captain  of  the  eunuch-guard  opened  the  doors,  with 
an  apology  for  the  previous  delay,  and  proceeded  to  execute  his 
instructions  by  showing  us  a  long  range  of  luxurious  apartments. 
Gilded  ceilings,  marble  floors,  Persian  carpets,  damask  divans,  and 
French  mirrors,  alone  justify  the  preference  of  the  inmates  for 
Ghezireh.  A  cultivated  Western  taste  would  have  introduced 
here  books,  paintings,  statuary,  and  a  thousand  works  of  art  and 
beauty,  but  we  found  nothing  of  the  sort,  except  one  table  of  Flor- 
entine mosaic,  which  was  presented  to  the  Khedive  by  Victor 
Emmanuel. 

Is  this  a  place  and  time  to  renew  our  speculations  concerning 
the  harem  as  a  domestic  institution  ?  The  Mohammedan  provision 
for  woman  is  a  prison  in  which  her  suff'erings  from  jealousy  are 
consoled  by  the  indulgence  of  her  vanity.  She  is  allowed  the  so- 
ciety of  her  own  sex  with  far  less  restraint  than  is  ordinarily  sup- 
posed, and  she  displays  before  her  visiting  friends  with  pride  the 
wealth  and  ornaments  which  lighten  her  chains.  She  goes  abroad 
in  Cairo,  but  always  in  her  carriage,  and  looks  upon  the  busy  world 
in  the  streets  with  veiled  eyes  and  under  surveillance.  She  attends 
her  lord  in  his  state  progresses  from  palace  to  palace  in  Egypt, 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF   CAIRO.  515 

from  Cairo  to  Alexandria,  and  from  Alexandria  to  Stamboul.  But 
she  goes  no  farther,  and  never  alone.  She  never  reads,  and,  so  far 
as  possible,  is  required  never  to  think.  The  Mohammedan  law  de- 
clares that  the  supreme  object  of  her  existence  is  to  bo  married, 
and  to  have  children  for  the  beneiit  of  the  state ;  to  be  unmar- 
ried, even  to  be  widowed,  is  a  reproach,  and  to  die  in  either  of 
those  conditions  is  to  forfeit  happiness  in  a  future  state.  It  is 
true,  indeed,  that,  though  she  fulfils  her  appointed  duties  and 
destiny  in  obedience  to  the  law  as  well  as  she  may,  she  has  not 
even  in  that  case  the  promise  of  association  with  the  faitliful  in 
paradise.  For  them  houris  are  appointed,  an  especial  creation, 
more  beautiful,  more  fascinating  than  woman.  For  the  fiithful 
Mohammedan  wife  there  is  reseiwed,  however,  in  paradise,  a  condi- 
tion which,  while  it  is  a  seclusion  from  the  other  sex,  is  gay,  glo- 
rious, and  perfectly  happy. 

The  Cairo  of  to-day  is  not  entirely  the  same  Cairo  which  "  Eo- 
then"  and  the  "Howadji"  have  so  well  described.  This  active, 
restless,  innovating  Khedive,  Ismail  Pacha,  lays  out  and  paves  broad 
and  direct  avenues,  plants  spacious  parks  and  gardens,  and  builds 
or  buys  European  hotels,  banking-houses,  warehouses,  and  what  not, 
to  such  an  extent  that  a  sojourner  here,  who  confines  himself  with- 
in the  improved  district,  might  fancy  himself  in  Vienna  or  Milan. 
Nevertheless,  the  Grand  Cairo  of  history  and  of  romance,  the  Cairo 
of  the  "  Arabian  Nights,"  of  Saladin,  and  the  Mamelukes,  remains  a 
great  city,  a  maze  of  majestic  mosques,  latticed  palaces,  and  brilliant 
bazaars,  variously  built  of  stone,  unburnt  brick,  and  of  wood,  all 
streaked  fintastically  with  red  and  yeUow  paint,  and  quaintly  orna- 
mented in  Moorish  arabesque.  The  narrow  streets,  sometimes  too 
narrow  for  any  travelling  beast  but  the  donkey,  often  end  in  a  cul- 
de-sac,  while  other  streets,  winding,  turning,  and  twisting,  lose  them- 
selves in  close,  dark,  mysterious  courts,  or  come  out  upon  acacia 
avenues  leading  to  steaming  baths  and  sparkling  fountains.  The 
people  of  all  sorts,  conditions,  occupations,  and  races,  known  among 
men,  seem  contented  with  themselves,  and  equally  gentle  toward  all 
comers.  The  Italian,  the  French,  the  English,  the  American,  and 
the  Oennan,  jostle  alike  the  children  of  Ishmael  and  the  children 


516 


EGYPT   AND  PALESTINE. 


of  Israel,   the  Greek,  the  Copt,   the  Berber,  the  Abyssinian,  the 
Nubian,  and  the  Soumalan. 

The  merchandise  carried  on  here  is  as  various  as  the  races,  sup- 
plying equally  all  the  luxuries  of  courts  and  the  lowest  wants  of 
the  nomadic  tribes  of  the  Arabian  and  Libyan  Deserts,  not  to 
speak  of  the  supply  of  the  traveller  with  antiques  and  articles  of 
vertu.  We  noticed  the  sign  of  an  ingenuous  as  well  as  ingenious 
Italian  that  he  fabricates  and  sells  "  Egyptian  relics." 


OAIUO,    Fl'.uM    Tdli    EAST. 


t 


CHAPTER  lY. 

UP  THE  NILE. 

Embarkation  at  Ghizeh. — The  Pyramids  of  Saccara. — The  Two  Deserts. — Siout. — The 
American  Vice-Consul. — Sultan  Pacha. — Character  of  the  Nile. — Slave  Boats  — Arab 
Villagers. — The  Birds  of  the  Nile. — The  Population  on  the  Banks. — Domestic  Ani- 
mals.— Personal  Arrangements. — A  Tippling  Monkey. 

Rhodah,  on  t/ie  Nile,  May  XWi. — We  shall  never  cease  to  felici- 
tate ourselves  that  we  had  sufficient  resolution  to  go  to  the  Great 
Wall  of  China,  though  it  was  JSTovember ;  and  through  India, 
though  so  late  as  March.  We  are  not  particularly  satisfied  with 
ourselves  for  having  yielded  to  remonstrance,  and  given  up  our 
projected  visit  to  the  Euphrates.  An  excursion  on  the  Nile  in 
May  is  equally  contraband.  Though  the  Khedive  has  provided  for 
it  like  a  prince,  yet,  like  a  judicious  merchant,  he  warns  us  that  he 
does  not  insure  our  lives. 

We  took  our  seats  in  a  special  railway-train  at  Ghizeh,  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  Nile,  opposite  Cairo,  at  one  this  afternoon  ;  and 
now,  after  a  journey  of  two  hundred  and  ninety  miles,  we  are  em- 
barked in  the  steam-yacht  Crocodile.  Our  journey  at  the  very  be- 
ginning afforded  us  one  of  the  most  beautiful  views  which  the  val- 
ley of  the  Nile  presents.  On  onr  right,  the  Libyan  Desert,  with 
its  eternal  sentinels,  the  Pyramids.  The  river  winds  almost  at 
right  angles  toward  the  east,  and  is  covered  with  lateen-sail-boats 
freighted  with  the  grains  and  fruits  of  Southern  Africa.  Before  us 
the   undulating  bank  beneath   the  cliffs  of  the  Arabian   Desert 


518  EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 

stretches  out  widely,  and  displays  endless  groves  of  niimosa-trees 
and  date-palms.  Below  these,  and  on  our  left,  is  the  great  city  of 
Cairo,  crowning  the  acclivity  from  the  water's  edge  to  its  towering 
citadel.  The  rainless  clouds  are  pierced  by  the  slender,  gleaming 
minarets  of  the  great  historical  mosque,  whose  walls  are  lost  in  the 
distance. 

We  had  not  lost  sight  of  Cheops  and  Cephren,  when  we  came 
directly  under  the  shadow  of  the  Pyramids  of  Saccara,  like  the 
former  sepulchral  monuments  of  departed  kings,  but  of  inferior 
magnitude.  We  passed,  as  we  were  assured,  over  the  site  of  an- 
cient Memphis,  without  seeing  one  stone  resting  on  another  there. 
More  of  this,  however,  when  we  shall  come  down  the  Nile. 

Rhodah  has  three  distinctions :  it  is  the  southern  terminus  of 
the  great  Railroad  of  the  Nile,  which  begins  at  Alexandria  ;  it  has 
a  palace  of  the  Khedive ;  and  extensive  sugar-manufactories,  which 
are  his  private  property.  The  people  received  us  kindly  here,  and 
conducted  us  to  the  yacht,  with  the  courtesies  of  a  pleasant  sere- 
nade, torch-lights  and  bonfires. 

Sioutj  May  13^A. — The  mountains  of  the  two  deserts,  between 
which  the  Nile  makes  its  way,  are  much  nearer  than  we  had  sup- 
posed. Alternately  the  Arabian  Desert  and  the  Libyan  one  crowds 
the  river,  and  gives  it  a  serpentine  direction.  These  promontories 
oftew  rise  abruptly  to  the  height  of  a  thousand  feet,  leaving  scarcely 
a  ribbon-width  of  green  plain  at  their  feet.  We  passed  such  a 
one  yesterday,  which  was  terraced  from  the  river's  surface  far  up 
toward  its  summit  with  galleries  of  vaulted  tombs  excavated  in  the 
rock,  and  long  since  rifled  of  their  deposits.  Many  of  these  tombs 
have  now  living  Arab  tenants. 

This  afternoon  we  planted  our  mooring-stake  for  the  first  time, 
in  the  high  shelving  bank  of  the  river  near  this  town,  the  name  of 
which  we  write  from  a  French  map  Siout,  but  which  English 
travellers  call  Assiout.  Now  the  flourishing  capital  of  Upper 
Egypt,  it  is  in  history  Lycoptera,  the  "  Town  of  the  Wolf,"  or,  as 
the  ancient  Egyptians  named  their  towns  from  their  temples,  the 
"  Town  of  the  Temple  of  the  Wolf."     Whatever  else  its  present  in- 


SIOUT.  519 

habitants  may  do  now,  they  do  not  worship  the  most  ferocious  and 
cowardly  of  wild  beasts.  Siout  is  the  terminus  of  a  caravan-trade 
which  penetrates  through  the  Libyan  Desert  to  the  great  Oasis. 
The  population  is  thirty  thousand.  One-third  are  Copts.  The 
streets  are  narrow,  the  thronged  bazaars  filled  with  cheap  articles 
of  trade,  the  buildings  either  of  stone  or  adobe.  One  or  two 
mosques  redeem  the  city  from  a  general  aspect  of  vulgarity  and 
meanness.  The  town  is  built  on  the  edge  of  the  Libyan  Desert. 
The  plain,  somewhat  more  than  a  mile  wide  between  it  and  the 
river,  is  annually  inundated,  but  the  traveller  passes  safely  over  it 
on  a  broad  embankment,  which  must  have  been  built  as  long  ago 
as  when  the  dwellers  of  the  place  confessed  the  wolf  for  their  god. 
Our  chief  interest  at  Siout  consists  in  the  insight  it  gives  of  the 
ancient  Egyptian  form  of  burial.  The  abrupt  rocky  desert  face, 
which  looks  down  over  the  place,  is  pierced  with  sepulchral  caves. 
These  caves  are  of  vast  extent  and  are  divided  into  numerous  cham- 
bers ;  all  are  dark,  but,  with  the  aid  of  torch-light,  we  found  them 
hewn  and  chiselled  with  elaborate  architectural  shapes,  with  por- 
tals, columns,  roof,  and  architraves.  While  we  were  pushing  our 
exploration.  Freeman  fell  from  l!he  floor  on  which  we  stood,  into 
another  chamber  four  or  five  feet  below.  He  was  unhurt,  but 
after  it  we  concluded  to  leave  the  million  bats  and  owls  within  to 
the  quiet  enjoyment  of  their  at  least  possessory  right. 

The  Governor  of  Upper  Egypt,  Sultan  Pacha,  has  a  palace  here, 
and  with  his  staff  has  kindly  accompanied  us  in  our  excursion. 

The  United  States  vice-consul  here  is  a  native,  though  an 
Armenian  Christian.  He  has  entertained  us  at  his  house,  and 
brought  around  us  his  sons  and  many  of  his  neighbors.  Being  a 
man  of  wealth,  he  prides  himself  on  his  dwelling,  which  he  fondly 
thinks  he  has  built  on  European  plans.  It  is  at  least  an  improve- 
Tnent  on  the  Egyptian  style.  We  entered  it  from  the  street,  by 
crossing  a  barrier  two  feet  high  at  the  door,  and  descending  without 
steps  to  what  seemed  a  basement,  but  proved  to  be  a  broad  vesti- 
bule, paved  with  solid  stone,  and  covered  with  sand  three  inches 
deep.  We  made  our  way  through  a  dark  gallery,  without  pave- 
ment or  floor,  to  the  lofty  consular  saloon,  with  a  divan  stretching 


520  EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 

across  one  end,  a  row  of  attendants  on  either  side,  and  a  table  in 
the  centre.  The  room  has  no  external  ventilation  of  door  or  win- 
dow, and  is  lighted  day  and  night  by  lamps  burning  American 
petroleum.  The  reception  was  extremely  kind,  but,  for  want  of 
acquaintance  with  Western  manners,  was  excessively  ceremonious 
and  tedious.  Coffee,  champagne,  sherbets,  bonbons,  and  chibouques, 
were  served,  and  many  African  curiosities  presented  to  us.  The 
consul  insisted  that  we  should  stop  on  our  return,  and  enjoy  an 
entertainment  of  native  music  and  dancing.  We  returned  to  our 
yacht,  where  Mr.  Seward  entertained  Sultan  Pacha  and  the  vice- 
consul  at  dinner.  The  governor,  a  dignified  and  courteous  man, 
was  only  once  beyond  the  borders  of  Egj^pt ;  this  was  when  he 
went  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca.  The  vice-consul  has  never  been 
beyond  the  summit  of  the  deserts  between  which  he  was  born. 
Both  expressed  great  wonder  at  Mr.  Seward  making  such  long 
travels,  and  plied  him  with  questions  concerning  the  United  States, 
of  which  they  have  only  the  one  idea,  that  it  is  a  land  of  universal 
freedom  and  unmixed  happiness.  The  governor  is  making  an  offi- 
cial voyage,  through  Upper  Egypt,  in  his  own  steam-yacht.  We  shall 
see  more  of  him.  We  sleep  to-night,  as  last  night,  under  strains  of 
music,  and  with  an  illumination  blazing  on  the  shore. 

On  the  Crocodile,  May  \^th.. — So  far  as  circumstances  and  in- 
cidents are  concerned,  the  experience  of  one  day  on  the  Nile  is 
that  of  every  day ;  even  the  scenery,  though  unique  and  pictu- 
resque, is  monotonous.  The  river  swells  in  the  middle  of  June,  and 
ittains  its  greatest  height  about  the  first  of  October,  after  which  it 
falls  continually  lower  until  the  next  annual  flood.  It  is  now  near 
its  lowest  stage.  The  soil  of  the  valley  is  not  different  from  that 
of  the  Mississippi.  The  river  is  of  very  unequal  width ;  in  some 
places  ten  rods  wide,  at  others  it  spreads  into  shallow  lakes,  which 
leave  scarcely  any  tillable  land  on  either  bank.  Like  the  great 
American  river,  it  is  always  changing  its  channel,  wearing  away  a 
high  and  fertile  bank  on  one  side,  and  transferring  the  soil  to  posi- 
tions lower  down  and  on  the  opposite  side.  At  every  point  of  the 
voyage,  the  entire  width  of  the  valley  is  seen.     Its  average  is  six 


THE  CANALS  OF  EGYPT.  521 

miles.  Irrigation  fertilizes  every  acre ;  the  water,  at  whatever 
stage,  is  raised  for  that  purpose  by  all  the  contrivances  known 
to  Prof.  Ewbank,  from  the  primitive  well-sweep  and  bucket,  and 
the  endless  chain  and  pitcher  worked  by  mules  and  oxen,  to  the 
steam-engine,  which  is  employed  on  the  great  sugar-plantations. 

So  many  channels  are  niade  for  distributing  water  over  the  sur- 
face, that  Egypt  truly  boasts  of  more  miles  of  canal  than  Java,  China, 
India,  Holland,  or  the  United  States.  The  mountains  on  either  side 
are  of  solid  rock,  varying  from  sandstone  to  limestone  and  granite. 
Huge  bowlders  of  all  these  rocks  are  seen  on  either  declivity,  or 
resting  in  the  valley  ;  but  the  river-bed  itself  is  free  from  stone. 
We  are  now  five  hundred  miles  from  its  mouths,  and  yet,  through- 
out all  that  distance,  there  is  not  a  rock  which  hinders  navigation. 
Sand-bars  formed  by  shifting  currents  render  navigation,  at  low 
water,  impossible  for  vessels  drawing  more  than  three  feet,  and 
even  those  venture  to  move  only  by  daylight.  The  downward  cur- 
rent is  everywhere  strong.  Our  yacht  makes  only  five  miles  an 
hour  against  it,  although  our  motor  is  an  engine  of  forty  horse- 
power. The  only  relief  we  have  from  the  intense  heat  comes 
with  frequent  changes  of  the  wind  from  south  to  north.  At  every 
turn  we  see,  on  the  one  bank  or  on  the  other,  clumps  of  dwarf 
cypress,  and  of  palmetto,  or  of  date-palms.  "With  these  exceptions, 
there  is  nothing  of  forest,  and,  of  course,  little  of  shade.  We  can 
well  imagine  that  tourists,  more  fortunate  in  their  choice  of  season, 
sailing  on  a  full  river,  level  with  its  banks,  find  the  country 
exceedingly  beautiful,  the  broad  plains  being  then  covered  with 
wheat,  Indian-corn,  rice,  lentils,  sunflowers,  cotton,  sugar,  and 
tobacco — a  magnificent  display  of  verdure  under  the  frowns  of  two 
gigantic  deserts.  Such  enjoyment,  however,  is  not  for  us.  The 
cultivated  banks  are  higher  than  the  chimneys  of  our  steamboat ; 
we  catch  only  an  occasional  glimpse  of  the  fields,  now  in  their 
brownest  and  most  exhausted  condition.  No  rain  has  fallen  for 
a  year.  Not  a  cloud  passes,  between  the  sun  and  the  soil,  by 
day  or  by  night.  The  earth  is  parched  and  cracked ;  the  winds, 
which  in  other  climates  amuse  themselves  by  driving  storms  of  rain 
and  snow  over  the  earth,  here  make  their  wild  sport  only  with  the 


:)±2  EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 

black  dust  of  the  valley  and  the  yellow  sands  of  the  desert.  For  all 
this,  the  voyage  is,  none  the  less,  one  of  deep  interest.  The  valley, 
more  than  a  thousand  miles  long,  is  densely  inhabited.  Like  the 
great  river  of  China,  the  Nile  is  animated  by  travel  and  traffic. 
Three  classes  of  boats  are  employed  :  the  steamer,  of  course  small, 
and  only  recently  introduced,  is,  as  yet,  monopolized  by  the  Gov- 
ernment ;  second,  the  dahaheeh,  a  boat  using  the  lateen-sail,  grace- 
fully constructed  and  gayly  painted  ;  third,  the  vastly  more  numer- 
ous and  effective  class  of  small  boats,  also  using  the  lateen- sails, 
and  managed  by  the  natives.  These  bring  down  to  Cairo  the 
surplus  produce  of  Upper  Egypt,  and  carry  back  merchandise, 
chiefly  of  the  cheapest  and  coarsest  clothing,  and  indispensable 
utensils  and  articles  of  furniture.  Occasionally,  too,  one  of  these 
boats  is  seen,  in  spite  of  all  foreign  protests,  and  of  the  Khedive's 
interdiction,  bearing  a  group  of  jet-black  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, whom  some  native  African  chief,  beyond  the  Egyptian  bor- 
der, has  sold  as  prisoners  of  war,  or  exchanged  for  the  trinkets  so 
highly  valued  in  savage  life.  They  do  not  seem  unhappy.  Moham- 
medan slavery,  in  fact,  wears  rather  the  character  of  domestic  ser- 
vice than  of  exhausting  labor  and  hard  bondage. 

The  people  cluster  in  towns  on  the  banks,  in  small,  low,  oven- 
shaped  dwellings  of  sunburnt  brick,  without  windows.  A  house 
of  two  stories  indicates  the  residence  of  a  successful  merchant  or 
speculator.  It  is  sure  to  be  ornamented  with  Venetian  blinds, 
painted  brown.  Its  double-latticed,  narrow  windows  are  designed 
to  indicate  that  its  proprietor  is  a  Mohammedan,  blessed  with  a 
harem.  The  Mohammedan  church  maintains,  through  all  ad- 
ministrations, its  rich  foundations  of  mortmain.  The  mosque, 
therefore,  dominates  everywhere.  Aquatic  birds  swarm  on  the 
beach  and  the  sand-bars — cranes,  ducks,  geese,  bright  flamingoes, 
and  stately  vultures.  Not  the  splashing  of  our  propeller,  nor  even 
the  shrill  steam-whistle,  startles  one  of  these  birds.  The  crocodile 
was  a  native  of  the  Nile,  and  in  the  ancient  mythology  a  god.  All 
books  of  travel  written  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago  are  filled  with 
accounts  of  that  hideous  monster.  Champollion  relates  that  he 
saw  fourteen  at  one  time.     It  has  entirely  disappeared  since  the  in- 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE   PEOPLE.  523 

troduction  of  the  steamboat,  and  the  traveller  who  should  speak  of 
seeing  a  crocodile  below  the  cataracts  would  be  thought  as  extrava- 
gant as  Sinbad. 

The  inhabitants  are  nearly  all  fellahs.  A  large  portion  of  them 
are  of  Arabian  descent,  often  intermixed  with  the  more  swarthy 
Abyssinian  and  black  Nubian,  They  are  strong,  slender,  and  pa- 
tient. A  very  small  class,  consisting  of  official  persons,  merchants, 
or  "  middle-men,"  wear  a  white  Moorish  turban  or  red  tarboosh, 
and  dress  quite  tastefully  in  black-cloth  coats  and  white  panta- 
loons, imported  by  wholesale  from  England.  But  the  common 
people  uniformly  wear  the  heavy  turban  and  blue-cotton  blouse, 
with  bare  feet  and  legs.  No  one  of  any  class,  however,  neglects 
to  carry  a  camel's-wool  cloak,  butternut  colored,  for  his  bed  at 
night.  The  children,  as  in  other  tropical  countries,  wear  nothing. 
Ophthalmia  is  universally  prevalent.  Women,  either  Mohammedans 
or  Copts,  are  never  seen  with  men  in  either  toAvn,  country,  or  vil- 
lage. They  are  seen  only  occasionally,  and  then  in  small  groups, 
but,  on  being  approached,  they  timidly  hide  themselves  in  their 
wide  blue  mantles,  and  retire  to  the  road-side  or  into  some  dark 
corner.  It  is  painful  to  notice  how  much  toil  and  time  are  ex- 
pended for  domestic  wants ;  but  for  the  people  it  seems  only  a  pleas- 
ant exercise.  The  Nile  is  the  one  indispensable  supply  of  the  com- 
fort of  life.  Men  are  seen  everywhere  driving  their  small  herds  into 
the  river  for  drinking  and  bathing,  and,  on  their  return,  bringing 
home  a  domestic  supply  of  the  water  in  skin-bottles.  At  sunset 
and  sunrise  women  are  seen  coming  in  long,  dark  processions  from 
distant  to^vns,  by  winding  paths,  to  the  water-side,  and,  as  in 
patriarchal  times,  bearing  the  family  supply  in  large  earthen  urns 
poised  gracefully  on  their  heads. 

There  is  no  lack  of  domestic  animals  among  this  people.  The 
horse  is  small,  but  strong  and  well  shaped.  The  ugly  water-ox  is 
the  beast  of  the  plough  ;  the  donkey  is  the  common  carrier  of  the 
country ;  while  the  camel  not  only  shares  that  labor  with  him,  but 
also  labors  in  the  field.  There  are  immense  flocks  of  sheep  and 
goats,  the  latter  all  black.  It  is  difficult  to  decide  which  party 
manifests  the  greater  affection,  the  fellah  for  his  mute  beast,  or 


524 


EGYPT   AND   PALESTINE. 


the  donkey  for  his  kind  and  gentle  master.  They  are  insepara- 
ble. The  Arab  is  violent  in  altercation  with  his  fellow-man,  and 
often  deals  a  passionate  blow,  but  he  never  strikes  or  reproaches 


A    WOMAN-    ON   THE   NILE. 


his  beast.  The  people,  isolated  from  all  other  races,  show  a  great 
fondness  for  birds.  We  have  heard  the  report  of  neither  rifle  nor 
fowling-piece,  and  every  house  in  every  town  has  a  fanciful  dove- 
cote with  alluring  twigs  at  its  windows.  Although  the  Arabs  have 
no  prejudice  against  animal  food,  the  domestic  pigeon  is  held  as  sa- 
cred here  as  robin  red-breast  is  in  Massachusetts.  Pigeons  have 
multiplied  so  much  that  political  economists  compute  their  consump- 
tion of  the  products  of  the  valley  at  one-twentieth  part.  "When  we 
reason  with  a  native  on  the  subject  of  this  extravagance,  he  replies 
that  the  bird  compensates  for  it  by  supplying  guano  for  the  pro- 
duction of  water-melons. 


OUR  PERSOXAL  EXPERIENCE.  525 

A  word  now  of  our  jDorsonal  experience  in  the  voyage.  The 
weather  is  intensely  hot,  and  of  course  grows  hotter  as  we  go  south. 
Our  party,  including  Betts  Bey,  consists  of  four  and  our  three  ser- 
vants. Each  passenger  has  a  large  state-room  opening  into  a 
comfortable  after-cabin.  The  forward-cabin  was  arranged  as  a 
dining-room,  but  Mr.  Seward  overrules  the  arrangement,  and  causes 
the  table  to  be  spread  always  under  an  awning  on  the  after-deck, 
and  he  persists  also  in  using  the  same  airy  apartment  for  his  own 
sleeping-room.  It  is  impossible  for  us  to  be  on  shore  in  the  day- 
time, on  account  of  the  insufferable  heat.  "We  make  our  calcula- 
tions, therefore,  to  move  up  the  river  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  rest- 
ing, sleeping,  trying  to  keep  cool,  and  writing  our  notes.  "We  go 
ashore  at  as  early  an  hour  as  possible  before  sunrise,  and  at  as  early 
an  hour  as  possible  after  sunset.  At  every  landing-place  the  au- 
thorities, having  been  apprised  of  our  coming,  are  found  awaiting 
us  with  the  chairs,  horses,  camels,  mules,  and  donkeys,  needed. 
Whether  we  dine  on  board  or  in  a  ruined  temple  on  the  shore, 
the  servants  who  attend  us  spread  the  table  with  the  same  abun- 
dant and  delicate  supplies  as  at  Cairo.  Our  captain  and  crew 
belong  to  the  naval  service,  and  are  skilful  and  polite.  The  cap- 
tain never  fails  personally  to  provide  our  Mocha  coifee,  flavored 
with  attar  of  roses,  as  in  the  Turkish  harem.  Chibouques,  exqui- 
sitely wrought  and  loaded  with  gems,  are  served  at  every  meal  by 
a  personage  whose  sole  duty  in  this  life  is  to  keep  them  safe  and 
sweet.  Instead  of  iced  water,  we  have  water  cooled  in  porous 
earthen  jars,  which  are  hung  over  the  stern  of  the  boat.  The  wine 
is  cooled  by  laying  the  bottles  well  corked  in  the  troughs  of  the 
boat,  and  pouring  a  stream  of  river- water  over  them.  A  small 
Abyssinian  monkey  affords  us  infinite  amusement  by  stealing  these 
bottles,  extracting  the  corks,  pouring  the  wine  into  the  gutter,  and 
drinking'  it  thence  until  he  attains  the  heio-ht  of  human  intoxica- 
tion.  "We  attempted  to  correct  this  habit  by  chastising  him,  but  he 
dropped  from  our  hands  into  the  river,  and  instantly  disappeared. 
After  searching  river  and  bank  three  hours  for  him,  we  gave  him 
up  for  lost,  when,  to  our  surprise,  he  appeared  squatted  on  the  seat 
of  the  life-boat  which  was  swinging  at  the  stern. 


CHAPTER  V. 

FROM  ABYDOS   TO   THEBES. 

The  Ruins  of  Abydos. — The  Sheik  of  Belliaiieh. — A  Misunderstanding. — A  Dinner  in  the 
Ruins. — A  Night  in  ths  Temple. —  Exploring  the  Ruins. — By  whom  nere  they  built? 
— Germs  of  Religious  Ideas. — The  Temple  of  Dendera. — Mr.  Seward's  Birthday. 

Abydos,  May  15th. — Though  we  were  unfortunate  in  reachinir 
Bellianeh  at  a  late  hour  last  evening,  we  found  sedan-chairs,  fellahs, 
donkeys,  and  camels,  awaiting  us  on  the  river-bank.  The  sheik 
of  the  district,  and  the  United  States  vice-consul,  a  Copt,  met  us. 
and  proceeded  with  us  immediately  to  the  ruins,  where  we  now 
write. 

These  ruins  stand  on  the  verge  ot  the  Libyan  Desert,  and  over- 
look the  level  plain  of  the  Nile,  here  seven  miles  wide.  Mr.  Sew- 
ard came  in  a  chair,  the  ladies  on  donkeys,  the  official  persons  on 
horseback,  the  servants,  the  beds,  and  the  provisions  for  the  night, 
on  camels.  It  happened  unavoidably  that  the  procession  broke 
into  groups,  which  left  some  of  its  members  without  guides  whom 
they  could  recognize.  Night  came  on  before  we  crossed  the  plain. 
We  arrived  at  an  Arab  village,  passing  through  very  narrow  and 
crooked  streets,  and  under  low  Moorish  arches.  There  we  alighted 
and  climbed  some  stone  steps,  by  the  light  of  torches  held  out 
for  our  guidance.  We  entered  a  court,  or  chamber,  which  opens 
to  the  sky.  How  could  we  doubt  that  we  were  at  least  in  the 
vestibule  of  the  Temple  of  Memnon  ?  It  was  a  surprise  to  have 
the  room  quickly  though  feebly  lighted  up,  and  to  find  the  floor 


THE   TEMPLE   OF  MEMNON.  527 

covered  with  Persian  carpets,  on  whicli  divans  were  placed,  and  to 
have  Arab  servants  come  in  loaded  with  water-melons,  rose-water, 
coffee,  and  chibouques.  Impatient  to  bivouac,  we  asked  for  the 
rest  of  the  party,  but  it  did  not  come  up.  We  now  noticed  that  no 
part  of  our  own  furniture  or  baggage  had  come  in.  Was  this  the 
Temple  of  Memnon  ?  If  not.  Why  and  by  whom  were  we  received 
here  with  so  much  courtesy  ?  If  it  was  that  temple,  it  was  a  very 
small  one  for  so  great  a  god,  besides  being  quite  modern  in  archi- 
tecture, and  built  of  adobe.  We  demanded  an  explanation,  and 
received  it — in  Arabic.  We  afterward  learned  that  the  Sheik  of 
Bellianeh  had  opened  his  castle  for  our  reception  and  entertain- 
ment during  the  night.  This,  although  an  excellent  hospitality, 
was  not  the  feast  to  which  we  had  bidden  ourselves.  That  feast 
was  to  be  served  in  the  Temple  of  Memnon,  in  the  excavated  city 
of  Abydos.  It  was  not  without  much  and  earnest  expostulation, 
nor  without  accidents  of  overturned  chairs,  and  falls  from  the 
backs  of  the  donkeys,  that  we  reached  the  temple,  two  miles  farther 
onward,  and  found  the  residue  of  the  party  there  awaiting  our 
arrival  with  much  anxiety.  So  far  as  ancient  temples  are  con- 
cerned, we  had  hitherto  seen  at  Memphis  only  the  place  where 
they  are  supposed  to  have  stood — at  Heliopolis,  an  obelisk  whicli 
graced  the  porch  of  the  Temple  of  the  Sun,  and,  at  Ghizeh,  a  sub- 
terranean temple.  So  we  were  quite  unprepared  for  the  vast,  im- 
posing, and  perfect  structure  that  now  towered  before  us.  We 
passed  through  the  'pvopylcBurti — a  majestic  gate-way  flanked  by 
lofty  edifices  on  either  side — into  a  vestibule,  more  spacious  than 
any  cathedral  or  church  in  the  United  States.  Beyond  this  vesti- 
bule, we  entered  a  court  enclosed  by  grand  open  corridors,  of  which 
only  the  basement,  a  double  colonnade,  and  the  architraves,  remain, 
the  solid  roof  having  entirely  fallen  in,  the  massive  slabs  remaining, 
with  the  exception  of  here  and  there  one  long  since  removed. 
This  court  is  the  inner  vestibule  of  the  temple.  It  was  too  dark  to 
see  more.  Dinner  had  been  laid  in  a  long,  dark  chamber,  which 
might  be  the  nave  of  the  temple,  and  our  mattresses  had  been 
spread  in  high-vaulted  chambers  at  the  side.  Were  not  these  mag- 
nificent accommodations  for  travellers  ?     Perhaps  our  banqueting- 


528  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

hall  was  the  nuptial  chamber  of  Isis  aud  Osiris,  perhaps  it  was  the 
mausoleum  of  Memnon.  Perhaps  our  sleeping-rooms  were  the 
sacristies  of  the  priests  who  assisted  at  one  or  both  of  those  ceremo- 
nies. We  had  scarcely  sat  down  to  the  much-needed  entertain- 
ment before  we  were  smothered  and  sickened  by  an  atmosphere  of 
heat  and  mould.  We  beat  a  hasty  retreat  to  the  open  corridor. 
Here  we  had  for  a  table  a  broad  granite  slab,  which  had  fallen  from 
the  roof  many  ages  since.  We  dined  with  the  shadows  of  the  mas- 
sive columns  projected  over  us  by  the  torch-lights  of  our  bearers. 
The  ladies  retired  to  their  stately  rooms,  but  a  trial  of  lialf  an  hour 
proved  sleep,  and  even  life,  impossible  there.  The  pallets  were 
brought  out  and  spread  on  the  floor  of  the  open  dining-hall.  All 
were  wakeful,  and  contemplated  for  hours  this  strange  experience 
of  sleepiug  in  the  Libyan  Desert  under  the  starlit  sky.  Our 
thoughts  wandered  through  the  past  and  in  the  infinite,  but  we  were 
occasionally  brought  back  by  the  heavy  breathing  of  our  sleep- 
ing, staff-armed  Arabian  sentinels,  the  braying  of  the  donkeys,  or  the 
piteous  moaning  of  the  weary  camels,  at  the  outer  verge  of  our  un- 
rivalled chamber. 

We  rose  before  the  sun,  and,  while  the  air  was  yet  comparatively 
cool,  explored  the  edifice,  which  consists  of  seven  parallel  naves  or 
complete  buildings,  each  with  a  vaulted  roof,  each  nave  two  hun- 
dred feet  long,  and  terminating  in  an  elaborate  and  imposing  sanc- 
tuary. This  peculiar  form  of  the  temple  suggests  the  idea  that  it 
was  dedicated  to  the  worship,  not  of  one  god,  but  of  seven  gods. 
Archaeologists,  however,  are  not  agreed  on  that  point.  Besides  the 
naves  and  the  sanctuaries,  there  are  other  spacious  chambers,  some 
behind  the  latter,  and  others  behind  the  propyl?eum.  Of  these 
chambers  some  may  be  supposed  to  have  contained  vessels  of  sacri- 
fice, some  sacred  treasures,  and  others  to  have  been  the  cells  of  the 
priests  who  were  vowed  to  chastity,  poverty,  and  penance.  No  part 
of  the  temple  was  adapted  to  the  accommodation  of  a  mass  or  con- 
gregation of  worshippers.  On  the  wall  of  an  interior  corridor  is  a 
tablet  which  contains  a  chronological  record  of  the  names  and  seals 
of  seventy-six  successive  kings  of  Egypt,  beginning  with  Menes,  the 
founder  of  the  monarchy  and  builder  of  Memphis,  and  ending  with 


A   QUESTION   OF   CIIROXOLOGY.  529 

Setis,  whose  statue,  witli  that  of  his  sou  Eameses,  stauds  at  the  base, 
as  if  reading  the  interesting  genealogical  record,  a  mutilated  copy 
of  which  is  preserved  in  the  British  Museum,  and  there  called  the 
"  Stone  of  Abydos."  Every  part  of  the  walls,  the  interior  as  well 
as  the  exterior,  is  covered  with  sculptures  and  hieroglyphics.  Some 
of  these  pictm'es  represent  the  birth  of  Osiris,  his  marriage  with 
Isis,  his  death,  and  his  apotheosis.  They  present  him  also  in  three 
beneficent  characters,  as  the  god  of  the  jS^ile,  the  god  of  the  sun, 
and  the  god  of  agriculture.  And  they  exhibit  Isis  in  her  three  at- 
tractive characters,  as  goddess  of  the  moon,  goddess  of  wine,  and 
goddess  of  love.  Other  pictures  present,  allegorically,  Osiris,  Isis, 
and  their  son  Horus,  as  the  benevolent  deities  receiving  sacrifices, 
and  the  treacherous  brother  Typhon,  who  dethrones  Osiris,  as  the 
god  of  evil — in  other  words,  the  devil.  With  the  benevolent  dei- 
ties are  associated  animals  of  a  gentle  nature,  also  exalted  to  the 
divine,  as  in  the  Christian  pictures  of  the  middle  ages  the  lamb  is 
associated  with  the  beloved  disciple  John.  The  ox  is  a  sacred  em- 
blem of  Osiris,  and  the  cow  of  Isis.  The  evil  deity,  likewise,  has 
his  brute  representative  in  the  crocodile,  the  hippopotamus,  and 
the  ass. 

The  first  inquiry  that  a  disciple  made,  on  hearing  the  fearful 
prophecy  of  the  Saviour,  was,  "  Master,  when  shall  these  things 
be  ? "  The  first  inquiry  that  a  traveller  makes,  when  he  confronts 
the  devastated  walls  of  Abydos,  is,  "When  were  these  things 
built  ? "  History  records  that  Abydos  flourished  before  the  Persian 
conquest,  and  that  it  fell  into  ruin  at  the  time  of  the  Mohammedan 
invasion.  Until  the  reign  of  the  present  Khedive,  the  vast  ruins 
lay  buried  under  a  mean  Arab  village.  The  hieroglyphics  on  the 
tombs  at  Abydos  show  that  they  were  built  within  a  period 
of  nine  hundred  years,  which  period  began  with  the  year  3700 
before  our  era — of  course,  five  thousand  five  hundred  and  sev- 
enty years  ago.  The  builders  must  have  had  some  experience 
in  architecture  before  these  majestic  structures  could  be  produced. 
If  this  account  does  not  agree  with  Archbishop  Usher's  chronology, 
it  is  not  for  us  to  reconcile  the  conflict.     History  also  has  settled 

some  other  points  of  interest  concerning  this  temple :  First,  that 
40  o  i  ^ 


530  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

its  construction  was  contemporary  with  the  Egyptian  obelisk  at 
Luxor;  second,  that  it  was  dedicated  to  Osiris;  and,  third,  that 
it  was  called  Memnoninm.  But  where  is  the  tomb  of  Osiris? 
The  same  veneration  which  the  Christian  world  bestows  on  the 
sepulchre  at  Jerusalem  was  paid  by  the  Egyptians  to  the  tomb  of 
Osiris.  According  to  Plutarch,  it  was  the  destination  of  their 
pilgrimages  in  life,  and  the  place  near  which,  if  circumstances 
allowed,  they  caused  themselves  to  be  buried.  Adjacent  to  the 
great  Temple  of  Abydos  is  the  Temple  of  Rameses  II.  A  dilapi- 
dated wall,  now  only  four  feet  high,  encloses  an  immense  mass  of 
debris.  Mariette  Bey  confesses  his  inability  to  reproduce,  from 
these  ruins,  the  plan  of  the  original  structure.  At  the  side  of  this 
Temple  of  Rameses  there  is  a  high  hillock,  called  the  Kom-ses-Sul- 
tan.  This  hillock  has  been  formed  by  tiers  of  catacombs  one  above 
the  other.  Many  vahiable  funereal  treasures  have  already  been 
removed  to  the  museum  at  Cairo.  Mariette  Bey  is  encouraged,  by 
discoveries  already  made,  in  his  hope  of  finding  among  them  the 
valuable  tomb  of  Osiris. 

Let  us  now  reflect  a  moment.  We  have  here,  at  Abydos, 
ascended  to  a  very  early  age  of  human  civilization.  We  have 
learned  from  this  study  that  in  that  age  mankind  were  no  less 
perplexed  than  they  now  are  with  the  problem  of  the  origin  of 
good  and  evil;  that,  incapable  of  tracing  the  beneficent  and 
injurious  natural  forces  to  a  first  and  just  Creator  of  both,  they 
deified  and  worshipped  those  natural  forces  themselves,  magnifying 
and  blessing  the  good,  and  deprecating  and  propitiating  the  evil. 
In  ancient  times,  nations  were  more  isolated  than  now,  but  the 
perplexity  of  the  human  mind  concerning  good  and  evil  was  as 
universal  then  as  it  is  now.  Each  nation  improved  and  adopted 
any  supposed  discovery  of  another.  The  mythologies  of  Greece 
and  Rome,  supposed  to  clear  up  the  mysterious  origin  of  good  and 
evil,  were  borrowed  from  Egypt,  and  it  seems  probable  that  those 
which  still  linger  in  Hindostan  and  China  were  brought  from  the 
same  primitive  source.  Finally,  we  have  learned  here  that  the 
monastic  and  ascetic  systems,  which  yet  prevail  in  every  part  of 
Asia,  and  which  still  have  a  strong  foothold  among  Christian  na- 


w 

Q 

W 
Q 

0 

a. 
w 


TEMPLE   OF   DENDERA.  531 

tions,  existed  here,  under  a  theology  which  has  untimely  perished, 
leaving  neither  priest  nor  votary  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  There 
are  more  reflections  of  a  less  general  character.  When  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  insisted  that  Moses  should  set  up  a  golden  calf  for 
their  worship,  did  they  do  more  than  adopt  the  Egyptian  dedica- 
tion of  the  ox  and  the  cow  to  Osiris  and  Isis  ?  Was  the  Egyptian 
apotheosis  of  the  crocodile  and  the  serpent  the  germ  of  the  idea 
of  the  evil  serpent  which  tempted  our  first  parents  to  their  fall  in 
Eden  ?  Was  it  the  germinal  idea  of  the  brazen  serpent  which 
Moses  "  lifted  up  ? "  Has  the  capacity  of  man  for  religious  knowl- 
edge its  limit,  beyond  which  it  cannot  go,  and  is  each  of  its  various 
systems,  although  perverted,  based  on  some  intuitive  idea  or 
abused  revelation  ? 

Kenneh^  May  17tL — We  planted  our  stake  here  at  four  o'clock 
yesterday  afternoon,  and  immediately  proceeded  to  explore  the 
Temple  of  Dendera.  It  is  more  modern  and  better  preserved, 
though  less  interesting,  than  the  Memnonium.  Its  construction  was 
begun  by  one  of  the  Ptolemies,  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  before 
the  Christian  era,  and  was  completed  under  the  Emperor  Tiberius, 
while  our  Saviour  was  yet  living  in  Jerusalem.  Some  of  its  decora- 
tions were  added  in  the  reign  of  I^ero.  It  has  thus  happened  that, 
though  it  does  not  combine  the  profane  with  any  thing  sacred,  it 
does  combine  illustrations  of  different  profane  systems.  It  com- 
bines the  history,  mythology,  and  science,  of  ancient  Egypt.  It  is 
elaborate  equally  in  design  and  execution.  AVe  can  hardly  count 
its  haUs  and  chambers.  The  walls,  the  ceilings,  the  columns,  the 
doors,  the  windows,  the  capitals,  the  surbases  and  pedestals,  and 
even  the  staircases,  are  crowded  with  texts  and  bass-reliefs.  These 
have  such  a  mutual  correspondence  that  the  antiquary  finds  it  not 
difficult  to  penetrate  their  meaning,  and  even  the  ceremonies  of 
worship.  The  temple  was  designed  as  a  hall  in  which  to  celebrate 
the  inauguration  of  the  sovereign  of  Egypt  in  three  characters,  as 
King  of  Upper  Egypt,  King  of  Lower  Egypt,  and  chief  pontifi"  in 
the  worship  of  Isis.  The  ceremonies  consisted  in  stately  proces- 
sions, sacrifices,  prayers,  and  offerings.      There  is  a  well-marked 


532  EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 

division  of  the  chambers  into  four  groups:  the  first,  a  vestibule 
or  open  hall,  in  the  place  of  the  propylseum,  which  was  customary 
in  Egypt ;  a  grand  gate-way,  which  was  opened  to  the  king  alone ; 
with  lesser  ones  on  either  side,  which  gave  access  to  priests  and 
others  who  brought  offerings.  A  bass-relief  on  the  north  side  shows 
the  progress  of  the  sovereign  as  King  of  Lower  Egypt ;  a  similar 
tablet,  on  the  opposite  side,  his  entrance  as  King  of  Upper  Egypt. 
In  these  ceremonies,  two  deities,  Thoth,  who  was  a  brother  of  Isis 
(and  whom  the  Greeks  recognize  as  Mercury),  and  Horus,  her  son, 
pour  on  the  king's  head  the  water  of  purification.  Two  goddesses 
invest  him  with  a  double  crown.  Then,  two  deities,  one  from 
Heliopolis,  in  Upper  Egypt,  the  other  from  Thebes,  in  Lower 
Eg}"pt,  take  the  king  by  the  hand,  and  conduct  him  into  the  pres- 
ence of  Isis.  The  second  group  of  chambers,  ten  in  number,  were 
all  closed  and  painted  black.  The  procession  was  foi'med  in  one 
of  these  silent  halls,  and  the  offerings  were  prepared  for  a  feast  in 
another.  The  walls  of  one  of  them  are  ornamented  with  four  boats, 
like  those  now  in  use  on  the  Nile,  the  boats  being  carried  in  pro- 
cession. Each  of  these  boats  contains,  at  the  middle,  a  long  chest 
or  box,  covered  with  a  thick  white  veil.  This  chest  corresponds 
exactly  with  the  descriptions  of  the  "  ark  of  the  covenant ''  which 
was  held  in  such  regard  by  the  Jews.  One  of  the  chambers  was  a 
laboratory  where  incense,  oils,  and  essences  v/ere  prepared  for  per- 
fuming the  statues  of  the  gods.  Others  contained  rich  vestments 
for  covering  their  limbs.  The  offerings  to  the  gods,  as  painted 
on  the  walls,  were  all  sorts  of  birds,  animals,  fine  clothing,  and 
ornaments  of.  silver  and  gold.  Instead  of  the  one  sanctuary,  as  at 
the  Memnonium,  there  are  two  here,  one  dedicated  to  Osiris,  the 
other  to  Isis.  The  former  is  ornamented  with  a  representation  of 
his  death,  resurrection,  and  triumph.  We  wei^e  more  interested, 
however,  in  a  small  interior  structure,  in  the  complete  form  of  a 
temple,  in  which  was  celebrated  the  feast  of  the  New  Year,  which 
took  its  date  from  a  transit  of  Sirius.  This  hall  has  twelve  columns, 
which  are  respectively  dedicated  to  the  several  months.  There  is 
also  a  dark  chamber  of  exquisite  architecture  which  was  used  for 
the  preserv'ation  of  mysterious  objects,  which  none  but  the  king 


MR.    SEWAED'S  BIRTHDAY.  533 

and  tlie  pontiff  were  permitted  to  see.  Stranger,  however,  than 
any  of  these  are  the  labyrinthine  subterranean  chambers,  properly 
called  crypts.  They  are  without  doors  or  windows  and  yet  their 
walls  are  covered  with  inscriptions,  and  these  recite  the  date  of 
their  construction,  but  not  their  use.  It  is  supposed  that  they  were 
built  as  places  of  deposit  and  concealment  of  the  treasures  and 
sacred  vessels  and  vestments,  in  case  of  surprise  by  an  enemy. 
However  this  may  be,  we  can  never  forget  the  demonstration  of 
their  present  use,  which  we  encountered.  With  the  aid  of  torches, 
we  crept  on  our  knees  through  an  opening  which  had  been  made 
in  the  wall  that  enclosed  one  of  them.  As  we  rose  to  our  feet, 
there  was  a  deafening  noise,  accompanied  with  a  motion  of  the  air, 
like  the  flapping  of  the  sails  of  a  ship  in  a  storm  at  sea,  and  thou- 
sands of  frightened  bats  came  dashing  against  us,  making  their 
way  into  the  outer  light,  from  which  they  had  taken  refuge.  Cleo- 
patra caused  the  ornamentation  of  the  outer  wall  to  be  completed 
with  an  intaglio  of  herself,  and  another  of  her  son,  the  child  of 
Julius  Caesar.  This  figure  is  inferior  to  the  Grecian  statuary  of 
that  period ;  nevertheless,  its  outlines  agree  with  the  accepted  rep- 
resentations of  that  eccentric  and  fascinating  queen. 

Avoiding  alike  the  darkened  sanctuaries  and  the  crypts,  we 
spread  our  table  in  the  cheerful  temple  of  the  New  Year.  There, 
with  Osiris  and  Isis,  and  Thoth  and  Horus,  Pasclit,  and  we  know 
not  how  many  other  deities  looking  down  on  us  from  the  walls,  we 
celebrated  the  anniversary  of  Mr.  Seward's  seventieth  birthday. 
One  of  the  party  amused  us  by  quoting  from  Homer,  and  applying 
to  Mr.  Seward,  the  words : 

.  .  .  .  "  whose  soul  no  respite  knows, 
Thougli  years  and  honors  bid  him  seek  repose." 

Mr.  Seward  answered,  repeating  the  two  other  lines : 

"But  now  the  last  despair  surrounds  our  host, 
No  hour  must  pass,  no  moment  must  he  lost." 


CHAPTER  YI. 

THEBES  AXD  ITS  RUIXS. 

What  Thebes  is  now. — A  Grand  Reception. — A  Federal  Salute. — The  Scenery  of  the 
Nile. — The  Temple  of  Luxor. — The  Houses  of  the  Consuls. — History  of  Luxor. — 
Karnak. — The  Hall  of  the  Gods. — King  Shishak.— Sphinx  Avenues. — We  dine  with 
the  Vice-Consul. — The  Colossi. — The  Ancient  Tombs. — The  Tombs  of  the  Kings. — 
Animal  Worship. — The  Rameseum. — Grandeur  of  Thebes. 

Thebes,  May  11th. — From  tlie  first  hour  of  our  classic  reading, 
Thebes  is  the  one  place  which  we  have  most  desired,  and  least  of 
all  hoped,  to  see.  But,  we  are  here,  moored  under  the  east  bank 
of  the  Nile,  which  once  supported  that  glorious  city  of  antiquity. 
We  have  come  too  late,  by  thousands  of  years,  to  verify  the  descrip- 
tions given  of  it  by  the  poets  and  historians  of  old.  There  are 
no  longer  "  a  hundred  gates "  here,  nor  is  there  one  gate,  nor  a 
wall,  nor  a  trace  of  a  wall.  There  are  no  monuments  by  which  we 
could  decide  the  disputed  question  whether  the  Diospolis,  situated 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  Xile,  and  including  Luxor  and  Karnak, 
was  the  whole  of  Thebes,  or  whether  it  extended  across  the  river, 
and  included  the  Colossi,  the  Memnonium,  and  the  JSTecropolis. 

"We  must  first  note,  not  what  Thebes  was,  but  what  it  is  now. 
Our  deck  is  forty  feet  perpendicularly  below  the  top  of  the  bank. 
There  was  no  wharf,  no  dock,  no  bund,  no  ghaut ;  there  is  no 
stone  stairway,  there  is  no  wooden  one.  In  anticipation  of  our 
coming,  the  sheik  (governor),  by  direction  of  Sultan  Pacha,  has  ex- 
cavated steps  in  the  loose,  dry  earth.  They  will  serve  us  perhaps 
to  reach  the  summit,  but  they  will  need  to  be  repaired  for  our  re- 


THE   TEMPLE   OF  LUXOR.  53 


030 


turn.  Moreover,  we  are  having  a  grand  reception.  •  Ali  Mnrad 
Effendi,  the  loyal  United  States  consul,  although  he  is  a  true  Mus- 
sulman, has  not  only  displayed  the  broad  and  bright  United  States 
flag  at  his  house-top,  but  also  the  gorgeous  banner  of  Brazil,  and 
at  this  moment  he  is  pouring  down  upon  us,  with  a  single  rusty 
musket,  a  Federal  salute  of  eighteen  guns,  from  his  balcony.  All 
the  people  of  Thebes  are  on  the  bank  to  receive  us.  They  consist 
of  twelve  mule-drivers,  with  their  mules ;  twelve  donkey-drivers, 
with  their  asses ;  ten  or  a  dozen  manufacturers  and  vendors  of 
antiquities  and  relics,  and  with  an  outside  attendance  of  as 
many  fellahs,  brought  here  by  the  unusual  sight  of  bonfires  kin- 
dled on  the  bank.  We  ascend,  we  reach  the  summit,  we  stand 
upon  the  sacred  plain,  we  dismiss  the  muleteers  and  donkey- 
boys  for  the  night,  we  thread  our  way  through  a  musty  Arab  vil- 
lage to  the  consulate.  In  the  upper  chambers  we  pay  our  acknowl- 
edgments, take  Mocha  cofiee,  and  a  chibouque. 

May  ISt/i. — The  bonfires  went  out  late  last  night,  and  we  rose 
early  this  morning  to  make  a  first  survey.  The  scenery  of  the 
Nile  is  at  no  other  time  seen  in  such  delicate  hues  as  in  the  hour 
before  sunrise.  Above  Thebes,  the  river  winds  around  the  foot  of 
the  Arabian  Desert,  forming  a  chain  of  small  gray  lakes.  The  head- 
lands in  these  lakes  are  crowned  with  scattering  farms,  and  not  only 
the  outlines  of  each  tree,  but  every  broad  leaf,  is  distinctly  defined 
on  the  clear  horizon.  A  mirage  from  afar  reflects  the  same  desert, 
lakes,  headlands,  and  trees,  gathered  into  cool,  shady  groves — ^in- 
distinct and  dreamy  pictures,  like  those  in  mountain  agates. 

Forty  rods  from  the  river-bank,  on  a  terrace  of  sand,  which 
seems  to  be  a  lower  ridge  of  the  dome,  there  rise  before  us  two  rows 
of  majestic  columns,  roofless,  but  held  together  by  architraves  not 
less  massive.  Familiar  all  our  lives  with  pictorial  representations, 
we  recognize  the  ruined  Temple  of  Luxor.  Beyond  that  ruin,  with 
the  exception  of  here  and  there  a  mud-hut,  is  only  the  naked  desert ; 
at  the  left  of  the  colonnade,  heaps  of  debris^  half  buried  in  the  sand. 
In  the  midst  of  these  masses,  towers  up  a  red  granite  obelisk,  high- 
er and  newer  than  the  honey-combed  one  which  marks  the  site  of 


536 


EGYPT  AND  PALESTIXE. 


tlie  Temple  of  the  Sun  at  Heliopolis.  Beyond  these  dehris,  looking 
through  the  vista  formed  by  the  colonnade  and  obelisk,  are  seen  tne 
dwarfish  minarets  of  a  shabby  Arab  mosque,  rising  out  of  a  group 
or  cluster  of  adobe  huts,  an  Arab  village,  which  may  contain  fifteen 
hundred  people.     Three  tall,  modern  houses  loom  up  above  the 


OBELISKS   AT   KAKXAK. 


roofless  dwellings  of  the  wTetched  town.  These  houses  are  built  on 
the  wall  of  the  dilapidated  temple,  and  of  materials  taken  from  it, 
and  are  the  residences  of  the  governor,  the  British  consul,  and  the 
United  States  vice-consul,  who  also  flourishes  under  an  exequatur 


ORIGIi^  OF  LUXOR.  537 

as  consul  of  Brazil.  "We  ascended  the  terrace  and  stood  on  the 
pavement  beneath  the  double  colonnade.  At  a  distance  of  two 
miles  northward,  among  fields  which,  though  now  diy  and  dusty, 
still  wear  the  aspect  of  careful  cultivation,  we  see  the  stupendous 
gate-wajs,  columns,  and  obelisks  of  Karnak.  An  Arab  hamlet  nes- 
tles at  the  base  of  these  ruins,  as  at  Luxor.  Beyond  Karnak  we  see 
only  the  winding  river  and  the  converging  Libyan  and  Arabian  Des- 
erts. Turning  our  back  upon  the  morning  sun,  we  see,  across  the 
river,  a  plain,  stretching  along  the  opposite  bank  for  five  miles,  and 
three  miles  in  width,  cultivated  though  uninhabited,  subject  to  in- 
undation. Beyond  the  plain  are  the  lofty  and  irregular  moun- 
tains of  the  Libyan  Desert.  The  immediate  river-bank  is  fringed 
with  palms  and  sycamores.  At  the  northern  extremity  of  the  plain 
we  distinguish  a  cluster  of  stately  columns;  on  the  left,  a  like, 
though  less  prominent  one.  The  former  are  ruins  of  the  temples 
called  by  the  Arabs  Qournah-De"ir-el-Bahari,  and  the  Eameseum. 
The  latter  are  the  ruins  of  the  temple  called,  in  Arabic,  Medeenet 
Haboo.  Midway  between  these  widely-separated  heaps  of  ruins, 
are  two  lofty  stone  piles,  each  showing  a  human  outline.  These 
are  the  Colossi — the  one  so  marvellously  vocal  to  the  ancients; 
the  other,  its  mute  companion.  Those  ruined  temples,  with  the 
Colossi,  are  all  that  remain  of  Thebes,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  jS^ile, 
that  can  be  discerned  within  a  single  view  taken  from  Luxor. 
Those  ruins,  with  Luxor  and  Karnak,  are  the  disjecta  memhra  of 
the  great  capital. 

"We  turn  to  Luxor.  It  was  built  by  Pharaoh  Amenophis  III., 
fourteen  hundred  and  eighty  years  before  Christ,  at  the  very  time 
when  the  rebellion  of  Dathan  and  Abiram  was  going  on  in  the 
desert.  Eighty  years  later,  Eameses  11.  raised  two  monolith  granite 
obelisks  beyond  the  colonnade.  One  of  these  we  have  already 
mentioned  ;  the  other  we  hope  to  see  in  its  present  site  in  the  Place 
de  la  Concorde  at  Paris.  He  raised,  at  the  same  time,  two  mono- 
lith granite  statues,  not  less  than  twenty-five  feet  high,  which  are 
now  seen  broken  off  at  the  middle,  and  prostrate  on  the  ground. 
The  colonnade,  the  almost  level  walls,  the  solitary  obelisk,  and 
those   broken  colossal   statues,   together  with   many  lesser  ones 


538  EGYPT   AND  PALESTINE. 

dedicated  to  gods,  heroes,  and  animals,  some  remaining  in  place, 
and  others  strewed  among  the  debris^  are  all  that  remain  of  the 
original  Lnxor.  After  the  conquest  of  the  Greeks,  other  orna- 
mental statues,  paintings,  and  inscriptions,  were  added  to  the 
temple,  among  which  latter  are  found  the  names  of  Psammetichus 
and  Alexander.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  work  of  excavation, 
long  s.nce  suspended,  will  be  renewed.  In  that  case  it  will  prob- 
ably a})pear  that  the  temple  structures  extended  much  farther  for- 
ward. The  ruins  as  now  seen,  while  they  command  admiration  by 
their  grandeur,  leave  on  the  visitor's  mind  a  j)ainful  impression  of 
the  narrow  extent  of  the  temple. 

W3  encounter  no  such  disappointment  at  Karnak.  It  is  the 
most  imposing  ruin  in  the  world,  devastated  sadly,  but  not  in  a 
heap  of  deh'is.  The  ruins  cover  an  area  of  nearly  two  miles  in 
circumference.  "Was  there  one  symmetrical  structure,  dedicated  to 
one  worship,  or  was  there  a  combination  of  many  temples,  dedi- 
cated to  many  gods  %  The  former  idea  is  supported  by  the  fact 
that  there  are  still  traceable  twelve  approaches  to  the  ruins,  in  dif- 
ferent directions,  each  avenue  broad  enough  for  two  chariots.  We 
explored  two  of  them,  of  which  half  a  mile  has  been  excavated. 
One  leads  from  Luxor ;  the  other,  at  right  angles  with  the  first,  leads 
from  the  river-bank  in  front.  Each  is  ornamented  with  a  row 
of  colossal  Sphinxes,  placed  at  intervals  of  six  feet,  not  unlike  the 
statuary  which  adorns  the  approach  to  the  Ming  Tombs  in  China. 
The  entrances  at  the  terminations  of  these  avenues  are  surmounted 
by  gate-ways  such  as  a  Titan  might  construct,  and  these  gate-ways 
open  into  a  series  of  propylsea,  or  vestibules,  which  have  dimensions 
that  can  only  be  compared  with  the  bases  of  the  Pyramids.  Our 
first  visit  to  Karnak  was  made  at  the  end  of  the  avenue  of  Luxor. 
It  is  adorned  with  a  winged  sun.  We  passed  through  four  succes- 
sive propylaea  into  an  open  area,  which  has  received  so  many  names 
as  to  be  practically  nameless.  Some  writers  call  it  the  "Hall  of 
the  Gods,"  some  the  "  Hall  of  the  Kings,"  others  the  "  Hall  of 
Columns."  It  is  three  hundred  and  thirty  feet  long,  and  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty-four  feet  wide.  On  each  side  of  it,  near  the  wall,  is 
a  row  of  columns,  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  in  number.     They 


COLUMNS   AT   KAENAK. 


539 


are  forty-three. feet  high,  and  each  is  a  monolith,  with  a  diameter 
of  twelve  feet.  In  the  centre  of  the  hall  are  two  other  rows  of 
colmnns,  seventy-two  feet  high,  also  monoliths,  and  the  several 
rows  have  the  effect  of  dividing  the  hall  into  a  nave  with  two  side- 
aisles.  All  were  roofed,  the  nave,  of  course,  higher  than  the  aisles. 
The  ceiling  of  all  was  of  massive  hewn  flat  stone  ;  it  has  long  since 
fallen  to  the  ground.  All  the  columns  have  highly-wrought  and 
magnificent  capitals,  no  two  of  them  alike  in  design.  The  columns 
nearest  the  walls  are  chiefly  ornamented  with  the  flowering  lotus  ; 


COLUMNS   AT  KAENAK. 


510  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

the  columns  whicli  support  the  nave  combine  figures  of  birds  with 
the  lotus  leaves  and  branches.  The  surfaces  of  the  pillars  are  di- 
vided into  circular  panels,  arranged  one  above  the  other.  These 
panels  are  covered  with  shields,  on  which  are  elaborately  carved 
and  painted  with  rich  colors  innumerable  mythological  and  his- 
torical devices  and  emblems.  The  darkness  of  this  stupendous 
chamber  was  only  relieved  by  the  faint  light  admitted  through 
small  grated  windows  placed  in  the  wall  which  divided  the  ceiling 
of  the  nave  and  that  of  the  aisles.  Some  of  the  columns  in  the 
chamber  are  now  prostrate,  others  have  swerved  from  their  places 
and  fallen  against  other  columns,  or  against  the  walls.  The  mys- 
terious gloom  which  must  have  originally  pervaded  the  chamber 
has  passed  away,  and  it  now  seems  merely  an  endless  and  confused 
forest  of  columns,  which  has  been  swept  and  desolated  by  the  tem- 
pest. Though  an  inscription  on  one  of  these  noble  columns  shows 
an  antiquity  of  three  thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty  years, 
the  masonry,  as  well  as  the  sculpture  and  painting,  has  the  fresh- 
ness of  yesterday.  In  no  part  of  the  ruin,  either  on  column,  archi- 
trave, or  wall,  is  there  ivy  or  moss,  mould  or  stain.  Such  is  the 
climate  ot  the  Kile.  Bold  bass-reliefs  sculptured  on  the  outer  wall 
represent,  in  regular  chronological  order,  the  events  of  the  cam- 
paigns of  Setis  against  the  Bedouin  Arabs,  the  Assyrians,  and  the 
Armenians.  In  one  of  those  sculptures  he  is  seen  seated  in  his 
chariot  in  the  thickest  of  an  engagement.  On  the  forehead  of  one 
of  his  horses  is  inscribed  his  name — "  The  Might  of  Thebes." 
The  enemy  flee  before  him,  and  take  refuge  in  a  fortress.  An- 
other bass-relief  presents  a  different  battle-scene.  Here  the  enemy 
fall  prostrate  on  the  earth  before  the  terrible  countenance  of  ma- 
jesty. The  king  sits  proudly  erect  in  his  chariot  in  his  attitude  of 
triumph,  followed  by  a  train  of  prisoners  in  chains,  whom  he  pre- 
sents to  the  gods  at  Thebes.  Another  represents  the  victorious 
king  on  his  return  to  Thebes,  and  welcomed  by  his  ministers  and 
courtiers  on  the  banks  of  the  Hsile,  which  are  crowded  with  won- 
dering, awe-stricken  crocodiles.  One  of  the  bass-reliefs  is  particu- 
larly interesting,  from  its  being  a  contemporaneous  confirmation  of 
Jewish  scriptural  history  : 


1;^    ■■-Ml 


< 

z 

a: 
< 

u. 

< 

h 

< 
0 


KING  SHISHAK.  541 

"  And  it  came  to  pass  that  in  tlie  fifth  year  of  King  Relioboam, 
Shishak,  King  of  Egypt,  came  up  against  Jerusalem,  because  they 
had  transgressed  against  the  Lord,  with  twelve  hundred  chariots, 
and  threescore  thousand  horsemen :  and  the  people  were  without 
number  that  came  with  him  out  of  Egypt ;  the  Lubims,  the  Suk- 
Idms,  and  the  Ethiopians." 

"  So  Shishak,  King  of  Egypt,  came  up  against  Jerusalem,  and 
took  away  the  treasures  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  the  treasures 
of  the  king's  house ;  he  took  all :  he  carried  away  also  the  shields 
of  gold  which  Solomon  had  made." 

Shishak  is  represented  raising  his  arm  and  striking  a  long  group 
of  prisoners  who  are  crouching  at  his  feet.  At  the  side  of  the 
victor  are  seen  several  fortifications  which  bear  the  names  of  towns 
in  Palestine,  which  Shishak  subdued.  Still  another  tablet  on  the 
walls  must  be  mentioned.  It  recites  the  entire  text  of  an  Egyptian 
poem,  composed  in  commemoration  of  the  victories  of  Rameses  II. 
The  obelisk  of  Queen  Hatason,  which  is  said  to  be  the  highest  in 
the  world,  stands  near  the  great  hall,  on  a  pedestal  of  dimensions 
scarcely  larger  than  the  foot  of  the  obelisk  itself.  What  skill  must 
it  have  required  to  raise  it  from  the  ground,  and  place  it  securely 
on  that  narrow  pedestal !  An  inscription,  written  perpendicularly 
on  the  obelisk,  gives  its  date  and  dedication  to  Queen  Hatason, 
regent,  three  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago.  An 
inscription  on  the  base  records  that  the  top  was  covered  with  gold, 
the  spoils  of  battle,  and  that  the  obelisk  itself  was  gilded. 

The  court  or  area  which  lies  between  the  temple  and  the  propy- 
Isea  on  the  river-side  presents  a  scene  not  less  unique  than  melan- 
choly. It  is  larger  even  than  the  Hall  of  Columns,  which  we  have 
described.  It  is  studded  with  pedestals  even  more  numerous  than, 
and  equally  gigantic  with,  those  in  the  other  hall,  each  one  of  which 
bore  a  column  equally  majestic ;  over  these  must  have  been  stretched 
a  roof  as  stupendous  and  massive.  But  of  this  vast  structure,  not 
only  the  roof,  but  all  the  columns  have  fallen,  save  only  one,  yet 
erect  on  its  pedestal,  as  a  solitary  representative  of  the  departed 
grandeur.  Making  a  circuit  around  the  ruins  of  Karnak,  we  found 
a  great  reservoir  of  Nile-water,  collected  as  it  oozes  through  the 


542  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

soil  underneatli  the  temple,  at  the  flood.  It  is  so  deeply  impreg- 
nated with  nitre,  that  the  Government  nses  its  deposits  for  the 
manufoctiire  of  gunpowder.  From  the  bank  of  this  reservoir  we 
looked  upward  through  one  of  the  excavated  Sphinx  avenues.  It 
now  presents  a  very  curious  spectacle.  The  great  highway  is 
fenced  in,  its  pavement  has  been  removed  or  buried  in  the  earth, 
and  it  is  now  a  vegetable-garden.  The  Sphinxes,  however,  still 
remain  on  guard,  to  prevent  Bedouin  depredations  of  water-melon 
and  sweet-potato  beds,  as  patiently  as  they  guarded  of  old  the 
approach  of  kings  and  priests  to  the  sanctuary.  While  we  stood 
musing  on  the  strange  freaks  of  Time,  a  hyena,  startled  by  the  noise 
of  our  coming,  rushed  out  of  a  recess  underneath  one  of  the  fallen 
columns,  among  the  debris  which  we  had  been  unable  to  penetrate, 
and  made  his  escape  over  the  sands  to  some  safer  haunt  in  the 
desert. 

Antiquaries  are  much  exercised  with  the  inquiry,  By  what 
agency  has  the  devastation  of  Karnak  been  effected  ?  They  indulge 
in  various  conjectures.  One  attributes  the  work  to  the  earthquake ; 
but  there  is  no  record  of  earthquakes.  A  second,  that  one  of  the 
Ptolemies  committed  the  devastation  by  siege.  But  those  princes 
seem  to  have  been  disposed  rather  to  preserve  and  embellish  the 
magnificent  monuments  of  Egypt,  than  to  destroy  them.  A  third, 
that  the  nitrous  Nile-water  has  dissolved  the  earthen  foundations. 
But,  making  all  allowances  for  the  absence  of  frost,  of  snow,  and  of 
rain,  in  this  extraordinary  climate,  is  it  not  more  wonderful  that 
Karnak  resisted  so  long,  than  that  it  is  now  found  so  slowly  passing 
away? 

"With  the  conquest  of  Cambyses,  the  ancient  Egyptian  church 
and  state  (to  the  glories  of  which  Karnak  was  dedicated)  began  to 
decline.  They  gave  way  to  religions  and  governments  which  were 
hostile.  Other  systems,  equally  alien  and  hostile,  have  followed. 
It  is  more  than  two  thousand  years  since  Egypt  has  had  for  a  ruler 
either  an  adherent  of  the  ancient  religion,  or  a  descendant  of  the 
ancient  kings  or  people.  We  saw  Karnak  first  in  broad  daylight, 
but  afterward  in  the  early  night  illuminated  by  the  evanescent  blue 
light ;  but  we  saw  it  last  under  the  bright  moonlight,  which,  while 


THE  COLOSSI.  543 

it  subdues  irregularities,  deepening-  and  lengtliening  tlie  shadows, 
imparts  new  majesty  and  beauty  to  all  objects  of  Nature  and  art. 

Leaving  the  ruin,  we  mounted  our  donkeys,  and  by  the  light 
of  blazing  torches  made  our  way  through  Sphinx  avenue  back  to 
Luxor,  stopping  at  times  to  look  whether  a  fox  that  we  saw  steal 
through  the  gate-way,  or  a  hyena,  was  at  our  heels.  We  arrived 
safely  at  the  consulate,  and  there,  seated  on  cushions  on  the  hos- 
pitable house-top,  around  a  table  one  foot  high,  we  dined  after  the 
Turkish  manner,  with  the  vice-consul,  the  governor  being  also  a 
guest,  upon  the  substantial,  dainties,  and  delicacies  of  the  season. 
At  this  feast,  each  party,  taking  care  not  to  interfere  with  the  equal 
rights  of  others,  dipped  the  spoon  into  a  common  bowl  of  soup,  and 
with  his  own  fingers  took  off  the  parts  he  liked  best  in  a  succession 
of  kids,  sheep,  and  turkeys,  roasted  whole.  These  viands  gave 
place  to  a  long  course  of  sweets  and  comfits,  water-melons,  dates, 
and  apricots.  Coifee  and  chibouques  followed  with  chateau  Mar- 
gaux,  Steinberger  cabinet,  champagne,  and  sherry,  all  brought 
from  the  pantry  of  the  Crocodile.  Here  we  poured  out  libations 
to  Ammon,  Osiris,  Isis,  and  Horus,  such  as  certainly  were  unknown 
to  ancient  Thebes,  and  such  as  only  those  good  Mohammedans  who 
attain  the  dignity  of  foreign  consuls  permit  their  Christian  guests 
to  enjoy.  The  excellent  host  and  the  governor  did  not  disdain  to 
join  in  these  ofierings — a  circumstance  which  we  should  not  men- 
tion if  we  supposed  these  notes  would  ever  be  translated  into  Arabic. 

May  \^ih. — It  was  yet  dark  when  we  took  a  small  boat  and 
rowed  down  the  Nile.  We  landed  on  the  low,  western,  sandy 
bank,  and  proceeded  on  donkeys  directly  across  the  plain.  Under 
the  light  of  the  rising  sun,  the  distant  Colossi  assumed  more  and 
more  their  proper  and  majestic  forms  and  proportions.  We  halted 
between  them.  Recognized  by  antiquity  as  one  of  the  wonders  of 
the  world,  they  are  less  wonderful  than  the  dispute  which  has  so 
long  prevailed  in  regard  to  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  built. 
Thebes  must  have  been  a  city  of  religious,  philosophic,  and  political 
ideas.  The  people  dwelt  chiefly  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  river, 
while  the  western  bank  became  their  cemetery.     Neither  at  Luxor 


544  EGYPT  AXD   PALESTINE. 

nor  at  Karnak  did  we  find  a  trace  of  an  ancient  tomb  or  grave. 
On  the  western  bank  liere,  we  found  little  else  than  a  universal 
cemeterj.  All  modern  cemeteries  are  ornamented  with  monumen- 
tal gate-ways,  churches,  and  chapels.  What  more  natural  than  that 
the  portals  of  the  cemetery  of  Thebes  should  be  graced  with  these 
two  colossal  statues  ?  Amenophis  III.  dedicated  them  to  deified 
kings.  He  designed  by  them  to  impress  the  pilgrims  to  the  tombs 
with  awe,  and  he  was  successfuL  In  a  superstitious  age,  not  only 
the  Egyptian,  but  the  Persian,  Greek,  and  Roman,  heard  or  ima- 
gined that  he  heard,  the  statue  which  bears  the  traditional  name  of 
Memnon,  wail  and  sigh  in  the  tones  of  the  ^olian  harp.  More- 
over, Memnon  was  the  son  of  Aurora.  How  natural  it  was  that  he 
should  greet  his  divine  mother  morning  and  evening !  Nobody 
believes  this  story  now,  but,  two  thousand  years  ago,  no  one  doubted 
it.  The  Colossi  are  sixty  feet  high,  in  a  sitting  posture,  indicating 
contemplation.  While  Thebes  remained  to  its  Egyptian  founders, 
the  Colossi,  which  originally  were  monoliths,  retained  their  shape, 
and  Memnon  continued  his  mysterious,  oracular  utterances.  But 
an  earthquake  shattered  both.  Memnon's  voice  became  feeble ; 
nay,  it  began  to  be  questioned  whether  he  spoke  at  all.  The  good 
Koman  emperor,  Septimus  Severus,  reconstructed  them,  employing 
the  best  architects  to  restore  Memnon's  speech.  But  the  imperial 
surgery  failed.  Memnon  became  actually  dumb.  Happily,  the 
repairs  then  made,  although  with  coarse  materials,  have  preserved 
the  statue  to  the  present  day. 

Men's  habits  are  formed  from  their  instincts.  Egypt  excited 
strong  interest  in  Rome  in  the  time  of  the  emperors.  The  Roman 
travellers  ambitiously  inscribed,  on  the  pedestal  of  Memnon,  the 
records  of  their  visits  and  observations.  Woman  was  woman 
eighteen  hundred  years  ago.  "  I,  Salina  Augusta,  wife  of  the  Em- 
peror Augustus  Csesar,  have  twice  heard  Memnon  within  one 
hour."  This  is  one  of  the  inscriptions.  There  are  hundreds  of 
other  inscriptions  which,  although  written  so  long  ago,  are  more 
easily  read  now  than  those  written  twenty  years  ago  in  our  coun- 
try church-yards.  Under  the  necessity  of  improving  the  cooler  part 
of  the  day,  for  fatiguing  observations  and  explorations,  we  passed. 


THE  MUMMY-PITS.  545 

witliout  stopping,  the  ruins  of  Deir-el-Medineh,  Medeenet  Haboo, 
and  the  Rameseum.  A  mounbun-spur  of  white  sand-rock  projects 
here  toward  the  river-bank.  Upon  the  ledge  we  found  the  rock 
pierced  with  parallel  tiers  of  catacombs.  These  catacombs,  not 
improperly  called  mummy-pits,  are  four,  eight,  or  ten  feet  deep. 
AVe  soon  became  weary  of  counting  them.  Each  one  has  been 
robbed  of  its  contents.  History,  we  know  not  how  truly,  says  that 
the  depredations  began  with  the  Arab  conquest.  If  this  be  true, 
then  it  would  appear  that  at  the  very  period  when  the  nations  of 
Western  Africa  were  selling  their  living  children  into  slavery  to 
Europeans,  the  dwellers  in  Eastern  Africa  were  selling  the  remains 
of  the  dead  as  objects  of  curiosity  to  the  same  men.  The  Arab 
invaders  of  Egypt  did  not  stop  at  this  ;  they  used  the  inflammable 
mummy-cases  for  fuel,  and  the  grave-clothes  for  lights.  We  may 
judge  of  the  extent  of  this  past  trade  in  mummies,  from  the  collec- 
tions which  are  found  in  Europe  and  America.  The  Khedive  has 
put  a  stop  to  these  barbarous  spoliations.  Of  course,  the  great 
mass  of  the  dead  yet  remain  hidden  and  undisturbed.  Calculations, 
based  on  the  estimated  population  of  Thebes,  and  the  average  dura- 
tion of  human  life,  give  the  number  of  bodies  which  are  buried  in 
this  necropolis  alone  at  eight  or  ten  millions.  Having  crossed  the 
ledge,  we  entered  a  dark  and  rugged  mountain-pass,  leading  to  the 
desert.  Here,  the  cemetery  shows  another  character;  elaborate 
and  costly  tombs  have  been  excavated  on  either  side  of  the  ravine, 
in  the  form  of  square  chambers,  and  in  tiers  or  terraces,  all  built  so 
as  to  command  a  view  of  the  plain  below.  As  we  looked  up  from 
our  path  into  these  excavations,  we  mistook  them  for  deserted  bat- 
teries. We  deviated  so  as  to  look  into  two  or  three  of  them. 
They  consist  invariably  of  an  antechamber,  like  a  chapel,  which 
communicates  by  a  stone  staircase  with  a  narrow  tomb  below.  It 
is  supposed  that  the  relatives  and  friends  of  the  deceased  were 
accustomed  to  assemble  in  the  outer  chamber.  The  walls,  as  well 
as  the  ceilings  of  the  chamber,  are  richly  ornamented  with  sculp- 
tures, intaglios  and  paintings,  the  colors  of  which  are  as  clear  and 
bright  as  if  laid  on  yesterday.  The  subjects  of  these  ornaments  are 
sometimes  religious  rites,  sometimes  events  in  the  life  and  career 


54:6  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

of  the  dead.  One  of  them  exhibits  the  deceased  as  general  of  the 
Soudan,  arriving  among  a  motley  people,  and  taking  possession  of 
his  government.  Some  of  his  subjects  are  negroes,  have  olive  com- 
plexions and  negro  features ;  others  have  Circassian  features  with 
olive  complexions.  Some  are  red  men,  and,  strange  to  say,  there  is 
a  mixture  of  white  women.  Tlie  animals  of  that  region  are  painted 
with  considerable  eifect.  There  are  giralies,  oxen  with  long  horns, 
and  oxen  with  their  legs  terminating  in  human  hands.  Presents 
are  brought  to  the  governor,  of  gold  rings  and  vases,  bronze  and 
silver  horses  and  lions,  silver  oars  for  boats,  and  ostrich-feathers. 
The  inscriptions  carry  us  back  to  the  nineteenth  Egyptian  dynasty. 
Farther  onward,  the  same  pass  branches  into  two  ravines.  Here  is 
the  Westminster  Abbey,  or  rather  the  St.-Denis,  of  ancient  Egypt. 
One  ravine  seems  to  have  been  appropriated  to  the  tombs  of  queens, 
the  other  to  the  tombs  of  kings.  The  paths  which  lead  to  both  are 
indescribably  rugged  and  desolate.  The  rocks  in  which  these  tombs 
are  excavated,  never  receiving  rain  or  dew,  seem  to  be  heated  with 
internal  fires.  Massive  door-ways  of  the  tombs  are  opened  into  the 
face  of  the  mountain ;  then  a  descending,  smooth,  inclined  plane 
conducts  to  the  tombs,  which  are  excavated  at  a  lower  depth  of  the 
rock.  The  tombs  consist  of  a  succession  of  vaulted  chambers  of 
various  dimensions  ;  some  are  only  twenty  feet  square,  some  forty, 
eighty,  or  a  hundred  feet  long,  and  proj)ortionately  wide.  Some- 
times one  chamber  opens  directly  into  another  in  a  straight  line, 
while  there  are  larger  chambers  on  either  side.  Sometimes  a  cor- 
ridor traverses  the  tomb.  The  outer  chambers  have,  as  in  the  cata- 
combs before  mentioned,  audience-chambers  or  chapels.  Many  of 
them  are  obviously  built  as  banqueting-rooms  for  costly  entertain- 
ments of  friends  of  the  dead. 

Strabo,  in  the  first  century,  described  the  tombs  of  the  kings. 
He  gave  their  number  at  forty.  Only  twenty-five  of  these  have 
been  opened.  This  has  been  a  task  of  no  small  difficulty,  because 
in  every  case  the  cave  was  found  not  only  hermetically  sealed,  but 
the  door-way  itself  was  covered  with  a  debris  so  artificially  heaped 
as  to  bafiie  search  for  the  sacred  place.  All  travellers  describe  one 
of  these  tombs  which  was  discovered  by  Belzoni  some  fifty  years 


THE   TOMBS  OF   THE   KINGS.  547 

ago,  and  called  by  him  the  tomb  of  Setis.  It  is  the  most  magnifi- 
cent of  them  all.  Strange  to  say,  though  it  was  so  carefully  hidden, 
it  had  already  been  violated  when  he  opened  it.  Within  this  and 
the  other  tombs,  the  visitor  penetrates  a  world  entirely  different 
from  that  which  we  inhabit.  The  entire  life  of  the  deceased  is 
presented  in  monumental  painting,  sculpture,  and  hieroglyphics,  on 
the  walls  of  the  successive  chambers.  He  is  seen  at  home  with  his 
family.  Every  thing  around  him  wears  a  chimerical  aspect.  He  is 
holding  intercourse  with  gods  in  grotesque  forms,  unknown  else- 
where. Long,  slimy  serpents  glide  through  the  chambers  and  lie 
around  the  door.  Manifestly  this  is  the  scene  of  the  trial  and  judg- 
ment of  the  dead.  All  the  arrangements  of  the  chamber  and  its 
embellishments  are  designed  to  produce  an  effect  of  awe  and  so- 
lemnity. Scenes  of  cruelty  and  torture  are  represented  by  hideous 
figures  ;  culprits  and  prisoners  are  undergoing  death  by  decapita- 
tion or  by  burning.  These,  indeed,  are  very  unnatural ;  but  who 
shall  say  that,  considering  the  early  age  to  which  they  belong,  they 
are  more  absurd  than  the  fantastical  torture  of  the  wicked  in  the 
conceptions  of  Dante  and  Michael  Angelo  ? 

Antiquaries  suppose  that  the  scenes  of  torture  and  cruelty 
painted  on  the  walls  were  designed  to  illustrate  the  trial  through 
which  the  deceased  is  passing  in  his  successive  animal  transfor- 
mations preparatory  to  a  happy  resurrection  on  the  earth.  The 
idea  finds  support  in  the  historical  fact  that,  according  to  the 
Egyptian  polity,  kings  were  supposed  always  to  undergo  a  trial 
after  death. 

These  chambers  of  cruelty  and  torture  are  succeeded  by  others, 
which  are  more  cheerful  in  aspect.  Here  the  ornamentation  illus- 
trates the  process  of  purification  through  which  the  soul  is  passing. 
The  last  chamber,  always  the  lowest,  shows  its  happy  reception 
into  the  family  of  the  gods.  In  these  happier  chambers  the  walls 
are  covered  with  hieroglyphics,  in  which  the  wandering  soul  recites 
the  praises  of  the  gods,  and  at  last,  the  trial  being  past,  the  soul 
celebrates  its  triumph.  After  examining  minutely  the  tomb  of 
Setis,  we  looked  into  that  of  Kameses  II.  Here  there  is  a  suite  of 
chambers  on  either  side  of  the  great  reception-hall.     These  eham- 


548  '  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

bers  present  numberless  simply  natural  scenes.  There  are  boats, 
furniture,  utensils,  bows,  arrows,  and  other  weapons.  Musicians 
play  on  the  lyre.  The  chambers  in  this  tomb,  moreover,  are  not 
arranged  in  a  sti'aight  line,  but  in  the  shape  of  a  T,  or  cross.  This 
difference  from  the  customary  form  is  found  to  have  been  a  depart- 
ure from  the  original  plan  of  construction.  If  the  excavation  had 
been  carried  straight  forward,  it  would  have  invaded  a  tomb  already 
built.  In  this  tomb  of  Rameses  was  found  a  red-granite  sarcopha- 
gus cut  in  the  form  of  a  shield.  Sad  to  say,  this  beautiful  ceno- 
taph is  now  on  exhibition  in  the  museum  of  the  Louvre  at  Paris, 
and  its  lid  graces  the  University  of  Cambridge. 

The  one  feature  of  Egyptian  civilization,  which  in  modern  times 
seems  to  be  the  most  absurd,  is  the  importance  they  assigned  to 
brute  animals.  They  not  only  worshipped  in  idol-forms  the  ox  and 
the  cow,  but  they  embalmed  and  buried  with  religious  rites  fishes, 
crocodiles,  cats,  and  dogs,  and  one  of  the  pyramids  at  Saccara  is  the 
receptacle  of  mummied  birds  only.  So  we  have  found  everywhere 
similar  relics.  Doubtless  the  ancient  Egyptian  faith  regarded  the 
animal  forms  which  they  thus  preserved  as  the  tenements  of  the 
souls  of  monarchs,  friends,  or  enemies. 

It  was  quite  eleven  o'clock  when,  on  our  return  from  the  tombs 
of  the  kings,  we  came  back  to  the  tomb  De'ir-el-Medeenet.  This 
temple  was  a  structure  built  in  honor  of  the  Queen-regent  Hatason, 
whose  obelisk  at  Karnak  we  have  already  mentioned.  The  temple 
w^as  raised  after  her  death  to  commemorate  the  glory  of  her  admin- 
istration. A  series  of  courts  rise  one  above  another  by  terraces, 
giving  the  structure  the  appearance  of  a  fortification  or  ramparts. 
Its  embellishments  consist  of  taMeaux,  which  show  us  Hatason  re- 
ceiving her  counsellors  at  the  court  of  her  brother  Thoutmosis  II. ; 
as  regent  under  her  brother  Thoutmosis  III. ;  and  last  as  herself,  a 
sovereign  ;  of  armies  marching  out  to  conquest,  of  battles  and  con- 
quests in  Arabia,  of  prisoners  taken  and  tributes  received,  of  vessels 
riding  the  ISTile,  laden  with  treasures  and  spoils ;  and,  among  others, 
one  of  marked  mythological  intent,  presenting  the  Egyptian  goddess 
identical  with  the  Grecian  Yenus,  in  the  form  of  a  beautiful  cow 
suckling  an  infant  Egyptian  king. 


THE  RAMESEUM.  549 

We  liave  seen  no  temple  resembling  the  Kameseum,  the  Temple 
of  Rameses  III.  It  is  a  combination  of  temple  and  royal  palace. 
The  architecture  of  the  palatial  part  is  perfect.  Consoles  prepared 
for  holding  awnings  over  the  doors  are  supported  by  prostrate  pris- 
oners of  war.  At  great  hazard  we  climbed  over  a  high,  broken 
wall,  and  reached  chambers  in  a  second  story.  In  these  chambers 
are  bass-reliefs,  much  defaced,  which  represent  the  hing  in  his  own 
house  surrounded  by  his  family.  One  woman  presents  him  with 
flowers,  he  plays  chess  with  another,  and  receives  fruit  from  an- 
other with  a  caress.  On  the  walls  of  another  chamber  the  great 
achievements  of  the  king  are  presented.  Here  a  picture  of  the 
king  is  deciphered  and  explained  by  Champolliou  :  "  He  leaves  his 
palace  in  a  richly-ornamented  chariot.  He  sits  covered  with  ostrich- 
feathers  on  a  throne  supported  by  statues  of  Justice  and  Truth ;  he 
is  attended  by  twelve  aides-de-camp,  and  is  followed  by  relations, 
friends,  and  priests  ;  his  son  and  heir  burns  incense  before  him. 
The  white  bull  follows,  and  the  procession  is  closed  by  nineteen 
priests,  bearing  sacred  ensigns,  vases,  and  vessels  of  worship.  Fi- 
nally arrived  at  the  place  of  inauguration,  four  birds,  the  offspring 
of  Osiris,  are  set  loose  to  announce  to  the  north,  the  south,  the 
east,  and  the  west,  that  Eameses  has  put  on  his  crown."  The 
electric  telegraph  of  the  ancients  !  Ten  galleries  contain  tahleaux 
illustrative  of  the  military  achievements  of  the  king.  We  recog 
nize  the  nationalities  of  prisoners  of  war,  though  the  pictures  were 
made  three  thousand  years  ago.  Among  them  are  Libyans,  Ara- 
bians, and  Ethiopians.  How  curious  it  is  to  find  among  the  captives 
the  Philistines,  who  so  long  maintained  war  with  the  Israelites  ! 
A  legend  over  the  head  of  each  prisoner  gives  his  name.  Ambition 
seems  to  have  done  little  else  but  repeat  itself  since  the  time  of 
Eameses.  One  picture  exhibits  a  basket  filled  with  the  hands  of 
prisoners,  which  were  cut  off  on  the  battle-field,  and  brought  to  the 
king  as  trophies.  This  practice,  though  it  antedates  by  far  the  ISTorth- 
American  custom  of  scalping  the  deceased  enemy,  is  akin  to  it. 
The  Rameseum  was  for  Egypt  what  the  triumphal  arch  of  Adrian 
was  for  Rome,  what  the  Arc  de  Triomphe  is  for  France.  Here  is 
the  speech  which  one  of  the  Egyptian  gods  addresses  to  a  victorious 


550  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

chief :  "  I  turn  my  face  to  the  north,  and  I  see  Phoenicia  lying  at 
your  feet ;  it  is  my  will  that  the  natives  bring  you  their  silver,  their 
gold,  and  their  precious  stones.  I  look  eastward,  and  I  see  Arabia 
furnishing  you  with  perfumes,  rare  woods,  and  fruits.  I  turn  my 
face  to  the  west,  and  I  command  the  inhabitants  of  Libya  to  render 
you  their  homage." 

Wherein  does  the  Trumbull  Gallery  in  the  rotunda  of  the  Cap- 
itol at  "Washington  differ  from  the  ten  triumphal  galleries  of  the 
Rameseum  ? 

A  gigantic  statue  of  the  great  liameses  at  full  length,  and 
scarcely  less  majestic  than  Memnon,  has  been  shaken  from  its  base 
and  broken  into  massive  fragments,  its  face  upward,  and  half  buried 
in  the  sand.  What  a  prototyj^e  is  this  of  the  overthrow  of  the 
Colonne  Yendome  and  the  gigantic  imperial  statue  which  crowned 
it  in  the  late  revolution  in  France ! 

While  Memphis  was  the  capital  of  ancient  Egypt,  Thebes  was 
the  chosen  seat  of  science  and  religion.  It  was  an  ornamental  city, 
the  pride  of  the  Egyptians.  We  do  not,  indeed,  find  here  all  that 
Homer  describes,  but  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  regard  his  description 
of  Thebes  as  an  exaggeration.  Certainly  the  kings  and  the  people 
who  raised  Karnak  and  Luxor,  the  Memnonium,  the  Ramesenm  and 
the  Pyramids,  the  Sphinx  and  the  tombs  of  the  kings  and  queens, 
may  well  be  believed  to  have  had  the  necessary  wealth,  strength, 
and  taste,  to  surround  the  city  of  their  pride  with  a  wall  which  was 
pierced  with  a  hundred  gates,  and  to  send  from  each  gate  two  hun- 
dred knights  and  two  hundred  chariots. 

Medeenet  Haboo  teaches  an  important  lesson.  This  ancient 
temple  was,  until  lately,  completely  buried  under  a  mean  and 
wretched  Arab  village.  In  the  process  of  excavation,  not  only  the 
original  Egyptian  temple  was  found,  but  a  Christian  church,  with 
pillars,  cornices,  architraves,  chancel,  and  oratorio,  on  Greek  models. 
The  penury  of  Grecian  architecture  compared  with  the  majesty  of 
the  ancient  Egyptian  was  never  so  effectually  illustrated.  The  col- 
umns of  Osiris  are  sixty  feet  high  and  thirty-six  feet  in  diameter, 
and,  with  their  lotus-leaved  capitals,  fill  an  area  of  an  acre.  The 
Christian  church  is  crowded  within  a  quarter  of  that  area.     Its 


A   SAFE   PREDICTION". 


551 


fluted  columns  are  eighteen  feet  bigh,  and  seven  feet  in  circum- 
ference. 

We  have  finished  our  survey  of  Thebes,  we  have  noticed  the 
devastation  made  by  the  Persian,  the  Greek,  the  Roman,  the  Chris- 
tian, and  the  Arab,  and  how  much,  after  all,  remains  ?  It  is  safe 
to  predict  that,  when  every  civil  and  religious  edifice  now  exist- 
ing in  Europe  or  the  United  States  shall  have  fallen  to  the  earth, 
the  already  dilapidated  monuments  of  Egypt  will  have  undergone 
scarcely  a  perceptible  change. 


CAPITALS   OF  COLUMNS    AT   ESNKII. 


CHAPTEE  YII. 

ESNEH,   EDFOU,   ASSOUAN,  AND  PHIL^. 

The  Coptic  Couvents. — Youssef  and  his  Conliev. — Our  Steamer  aground. — The  Ruins  of 
Esneh. — The  Temple  of  Edfou. — 'Assouan. — Its  Surprising  Activity. — Its  African 
Population. — The  Ancient  Quarries. — Philae  and  the  Cataracts  of  ihe  Mle. — A  ilon- 
ument  of  the  First  French  Republic. 

EsneJi,  May  '^Ist. — If  time  would  allow,  it  would  be  an  interest- 
ing task  to  visit  the  Coptic  convents  whieli  are  found  in  small  and 
poor  villages  on  the  desert  verge.  Their  history  is  a  touching  one. 
Thej  were  founded  as  a  refuge  for  the  Coptic  Christians  from  a 
decree  of  the  Emperor  Diocletian,  and  they  were  again  sought  as 
an  asylum  by  the  Copts — who  had  become  Christians,  when  driven 
away  by  the  Mussulman  concpierors  from  their  home  at  Medeenet 
Haboo.  Their  present  tenants  are  represented  as  being  very  poor, 
and  as  retaining  of  Christianity  little  more  than  a  ritual  of  the  early 
Church. 

The  courteous  governor  and  the  hospitable  consul  took  leave  of 
us  at  a  late  hour  on  the  night  of  the  19th,  with  good  wishes  for  the 
voyage  we  were  about  to  resume.  Our  favorite  English-speaking 
donkey-boy,  Youssef,  petitioned  us  to  take  him  with  us  to  the 
United  States,  but  he  depends  on  his  vocation  to  support  his  wid- 
owed mother.  "We  raised  steam  and  cast  off  from  the  bank  at  day- 
light, passed  Edfou  without  stopping,  but  either  our  pilot  was  at 
fault,  or  sand-bars  had  suddenly  changed.  We  came  to  a  dead  stop. 
Sultan  Pacha,  at  that  moment,  comino-  down  the  river  with  his 


RUINS   OF  ESNEH. 


553 


steamer  of  ligliter  drauglit,  threw  us  a  rope,  and  drew  tia  over  the 
obstructions.  So  we  fixed  our  stake  on  the  bank  at  Esnch.  It  is  a 
small  village,  whose  principal  occupation  it  is  to  coal  the  govern- 
ment steamers.  There  is  here  an  Egyptian  temple,  which  is 
approached  closely  at  high  water.  We,  however,  were  obliged  to 
traverse  a  sandy  plain,  a  mile  wide,  under  the  noonday  sun.  The 
ruins,  like  those  of  Medeenet  Haboo,  were  buried  beneath  an  Arab 
village,  a  part  of  which  still  remains.     Only  the  great  hall  of  the  tem- 


TOUSSEF   AXD   HIS  DOXKEY. 


pie  has  been  excavated.  Unfortunately,  this  chamber  is  discolored  by 
smoke ;  doubtless  it  was  used  ignominiously  by  the  Arabs.  The 
spectator  is  struck  by  seeing  on  the  ceiling  a  perfect  table  of  the 
zodiac,  in  which  all  the  circumferential  emblems  are  identical  with 
those  of  om*  own  tables  of  the  constellations,  excepting  Cancer,  the 
Crab,  which  resembles  the  scarabseus  or  sacred  beetle.  The  ancient 
Eg}^tian  ornamentation  of  the  great  hall  has  given  place  to  more 
modern  embellishments — among  them  the  shields  of  the  Roman 
Emperors  Claudius,  Domitian,  Septimus  Severus,  Commodus,  and 


554  EGYPT  AND  PALESTIN^E. 

Caracalla.  The  bass-reliefs  and  sculjotures  are  in  a  low  style  of  art, 
showing  a  great  decline  in  sculpture  and  painting  after  the  Persian 
and  Greek  conquest,  but  these  faults  are  redeemed  by  the  surpass- 
ing beauty  of  the  columns.  They  prove  that,  for  a  time  at  least, 
Egyptian  architecture  improved  under  the  Grecian  chisel.  There 
are  twenty-five  of  these  columns,  each  with  an  exquisite  capital, 
but  no  two  alike.  The  lotus  is  the  principal  ornament  of  all  of 
them,  and  is  treated  at  every  stage  of  its  development.  Doubtless 
the  religious  ideas  of  the  Egyptians  underwent  a  modification,  after 
the  Grecian  conquest,  not  unlike  their  principles  of  art. 

Edfou,  May  22c7. — We  reached  Edfou  last  night,  and  were  wel- 
comed by  bonfires  which  extended  a  mile  along  the  river-bank. 
"We  hastened  through  the  little  village,  to  explore  the  celebrated 
temple.  Its  excavation  has  been  one  of  the  most  successful  achieve- 
ments of  the  Khedive.  A  dozen  years  ago,  men  dwelt,  horses 
travelled,  bread  was  baked,  and  goods  were  sold,  on  its  roof;  and, 
if  the  Arab  ever  planted  trees  around  his  dwelling,  their  roots 
would  have  effected  an  entrance  into  the  sacred  chambers  of  tlie 
gods.  Like  the  temple  at  Dendera,  it  has  an  immense  propylseum, 
and  a  vast  number  of  chambers.  The  whole,'  happily,  is  so  well 
preserved,  that  an  architect  finds  no  difficulty  in  reproducing  the 
original  plan  and  arrangement.  So  Edfou  serves  as  a  key  to  many 
ruined  temples  which,  like  Karnak,  have  been  unintelligible.  This 
temple  bears  the  signature  of  the  architect,  which,  in  justice  to 
him,  we  transcribe : 


"El-EM-HOTEP    OeE-SI-PhTAH." 

(Imouthosis,  Grandson  of  Plitah.) 

Like  the  temple  at  Esneh,  this  one  at  Edfou  is  modern.  It  was 
begun  by  Ptolemy  Philopater  204  b.  c,  and  completed  with  decora- 
tions only  in  34  b.  c.  Our  discontent,  at  finding  ourselves  in  a  tem- 
ple only  two  thousand  years  old,  was  relieved  when  we  went  into 
the  sanctum  sanctorum^  and  found  a  huge  vault  or  chest  cut  out  of 
one  solid  block  of  granite,  and  which  was  the  depository  of  the 
mysterious  emblems  of  the  temple  which,  in  earlier  and  happier 


ASSOUAN.  555 

times,  had  covered  the  site  of  the  modern  structure.  This  vault 
bears  an  inscription  which  cites  that  it  was  wrought  into  its  present 
shape  at  the  quarry  by  order  of  King  Nectanebus,  who  flourished 
three  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  tiiis  temple  was  built.  The 
dimensions  of  the  temple  are :  width,  one  hundred  and  thirty-one 
feet ;  depth,  two  hundred  and  thirty-six  feet.  The  ornamentations 
are  of  the  same  general  character  as  those  at  Dendera,  consisting 
mainly  of  representations  of  sacred  ceremonies  and  mythological 
devices.  The  work  is  not  less  elaborate,  and  the  coloring,  owing 
perhaps  to  the  excavation  being  new,  is  as  fresh  and  bright  as  if 
put  on  yesterday.  Betts  Bey's  illumination  of  this  wonderful  hall 
by  blue  hghts  was  the  most  magnificent  pyrotechnic  exhibition  that 
can  be  imagined. 

Assouan^  May  226?. — The  river  above  Edfou  contracts  to  the 
width  of  one  thousand  feet.  The  sedgy  deserts  become  precipitous 
banks,  and  you  can  step  upon  the  rocks  on  either  side  from  the 
boat.  So  we  notice  that  we  are  nearing  the  cataract.  Though  the 
desert  is  now  so  solitary  and  desolate,  the  caverns,  excavated  in 
terraces,  indicate  that,  in  some  way,  a  vast  population  once  filled 
this  narrow,  forbidding  strait.  Many  of  the  caves  exhibit  the 
hieroglyphics  associated  by  the  ancients  with  their  tombs.  Others 
seem  to  have  been  used  as  dwellings.  One  of  them  has,  in  a  recess, 
a  poor  and  coarse  sculpture  of  their  gods  in  one  statue,  but  the 
faces  are  so  mutilated  that  no  expression  can  be  detected.  And 
now,  when  we  have  come  aboard  again,  the  river  has  lost  its  monot- 
onous and  gloomy  aspect.  The  Libyan  Desert,  rising  into  loftier 
crests,  crowds  the  river  as  below,  but  the  Arabian  Desert  sinks  and 
retreats,  and  leaves  at  its  base  a  strip  of  land  covered  in  succession 
with  rich  fields  of  water-melons,  rice,  Indian-corn,  and  orchards  of 
date-palms,  alternating  with  groves  of  flowering  acacias.  The  isl- 
and of  Elephantina,  very  small,  divides  the  river,  and  shuts  out 
both  its  upper  branches  from  the  view.  Elephantina  is  the  only 
green  island  which  the  Nile  contains.  The  river  on  either  side  is 
hidden  by  projecting  promontories,  and  we  come  to  rest  in  a  calm 
bay,  which  seems  to  be  the  fountain  of  the  Nile.    "We  sweep  through 

42  » 


55G  ■  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

this,  and  approach,  on  the  eastern  shore^  the  small  town  of  Assouan, 
built  in  the  sands,  and  seeming  to  be  a  part  of  the  desert  itself. 

Assouan  is  at  the  foot  of  the  portage  around  the  cataract,  and 
exhibits  an  activity  as  surprising  as  that  at  Cheyenne  or  Omaha. 
But  there  is  no  resemblance  in  the  articles  of  commerce  or  the 
merchants,  the  trade  or  the  traders,  in  any  other  country.  Instead 
of  -vvarchouses,  there  are  open  bins,  filled  with  dates  and  other 
tropical  fruits,  elephants'  teeth,  ostrich-feathers,  palm-oil,  lion-skins 
and  tiger-skins,  odoriferous  and  medicinal  gums,  the  barks  of  trees 
for  bales,  tomahawks  with  ebony  handles,  lances,  and  poisoned 
arrows.  Stores  of  rude  pottery,  and  other  cheap  domestic  utensils, 
from  Alexandria  and  Cairo,  are  gathered  here  in  other  bins,  to 
exchange  for  the  southern  products  mentioned.  The  stores  of 
either  kind  are  without  locks  or  bars,  or  watchmen,  and,  if  protected 
at  all  from  the  sun,  it  is  only  by  awnings  stretched  above  them.. 
All  this  merchandise  is  now  awaiting  the  flood,  which  will  allow 
small  boats  to  pass  over  the  rocky  ledges  of  the  cataract.  The  little 
harbor  is  filled  with  pretty  vessels  of  light  burden,  among  which 
the  gay  dahaheah  everywhere  flaunts  its  striped  lateen-sails.  On 
the  brown  mountain-top  wdiich  overhangs  the  town  are  seen  the 
fortifications  of  Arabian  conquerors,  earlier  than  Saladin.  Though 
deserted  and  neglected  for  so  many  centuries,  they  seem  capable  of 
reconstruction  with  a  little  time  and  cost.  But  Assouan  is  rendered 
even  more  interesting  by  the  diversity  and  strangeness  of  its  popula- 
tion, than  by  its  desert  location,  the  verdant  Elephantina,  its  quaint 
shipping,  and  its  barbaric  commerce.  No  sooner  do  we  pass  the 
Nubian  border,  than  a  difierent  race  from  that  of  Lower  Egypt 
presents  itself.  The  inhabitants  are  black,  neither  tawny  nor  olive, 
but  shiny  black.  A  few  Arabs  are  seen,  but  they  are  manifestly 
inferior,  and  servile  to  the  Nubians  ;  the  habitations  are  African, 
built  of  the  palm,  the  bamboo,  and  the  cane.  The  sand  of  the 
desert  is  the  floor.  Assouan  is  more  African  even  than  Aden. 
But  here,  as  elsewhere,  superior  races  hold  prominence  in  commerce. 
Many  of  the  merchants  are  Berbers,  Abyssinians,  and  Libyans, 
while  the  laboring  population  is  gathered  from  the  savage  tribes 
of  interior  Africa.     These  people  are  quite  uncivilized,  although 


ANCIENT  GEANITE   QUARPwIES.  557 

commercial  liabits  have  made  them  peaceful  and  docile.  They 
know  as  little  of  the  world  below  Elephantina  as  they  know  of 
their  own  history.  They  wonder  at  the  decline  of  the  innocent  and 
remunerative  slave-trade,  and  still  furtively  pursue  it  against  all 
interdictions  and  remonstrance.  The  price  of  an  African  hand- 
maid, in  an  Arabian  family,  is  sixty  dollars.  Her  children  inherit 
equally  with  those  of  the  lawful  wife. 

We  waited  until  sunset,  and  then,  mounting  camels,  made  our 
way  through  narrow,  circuitous,  unpaved,  sandy  lanes,  crowded  on 
either  side  by  bazaars,  coffee-houses,  mosques,  Coptic  chapels,  and 
mud-houses,  with  barricaded  doors  and  latticed  windows.  Emerg- 
ing upon  the  desert,  through  the  widest  city  gate  ever  seen,  we 
came  into  a  Mohammedan  cemetery,  five  or  six  miles  in  circum- 
ference. It  is  the  only  cemetery  we  have  ever  seen  from  which 
every  cheerful  association  of  !N"ature  is  excluded.  It  has  neither 
tree,  shrub,  plant,  nor  flower — neither  sod  nor  soil — but  only  the  diy 
sands  of  the  desert,  deposited  by  winds  during  thousands  of  years. 
The  graves  are  (or  might  be)  excavated  with  the  human  hand,  with- 
out an  implement.  The  excavation  consists  of  removing  so  much 
sand  as  will  leave  the  dead  body  on  a  level  with  the  surface  of  the 
plain,  and  the  sand  is  heaped  upon  it.  Each  grave  is  marked  by  a 
small,  rough  stone,  usually  without  inscription.  Some  families 
have  more  ambitious  monuments.  They  build  a  tomb  above  the 
sand,  open  at  the  sides.  Interment  is  made  by  removing  the  sand 
beneath,  and  restoring  it  when  the  remains  have  been  thrust  in. 
Travellers  say  that  the  sirocco  often  uncovers  the  graves,  rendering 
the  air  pestilential.  We  were  spared  such  hideous  experiences. 
Leaving  the  cemetery  behind  us,  we  rose  some  fifty  or  sixty  feet 
above  a  ledge  of  the  desert,  and  stood  in  the  ancient  granite  quar- 
ries of  Assouan.  The  plain  is  strewed  with  massive  surface  stones, 
which  covered  the  quarry,  and  were  rolled  down  the  hill-side  by 
some  mechanism  of  more  power  than  we  can  now  conceive.  At  a 
height  of  five  hundred  feet  above  the  river-bed,  we  found  the 
smooth  bed  of  the  quarry  of  red  granite  from  which  the  walls  of 
the  chambers  of  the  Pyramids,  and  the  columns  of  the  Temples  of 
Memphis,  Thebes,  and  Dendera,  were  taken.     From  here,  also,  were 


558  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

quarried  the  sareopliagi  and  statues  found  in  every  part  of  Egypt, 
and  all,  or  nearly  all,  of  the  obelisks  which  grace  European  capitals, 
as  well  as  Heliopolis,  Luxor,  and  Karnak.  It  is  almost  enough  to 
make  one  fancy  that  the  Egyptians  were  a  Titanic  race,  when 
standing  in  this  quarry,  and  contemplating  that,  three  thousand, 
fom'  thousand,  five  thousand  years  ago,  they  hewed,  without  the 
aid  of  steam  or  gunpowder,  the  solid  mountain  into  shapes  of  gran- 
deur and  ornament,  with  scarcely  more  time,  labor,  and  cost,  than 
are  now  expended  in  framing  smaller  forms  of  wood !  After  con- 
tinuing for  four  thousand  years  a  scene  of  active  industry,  the  quar- 
ries became  silent  and  solitary  all  at  once.  We  understand  there 
is  no  record  of  the  erection  of  any  obelisk  in  Egypt  subsequent  to 
the  period  of  the  Roman  conquest.  We  left  our  uncomfortable 
camels,  and  climbed  up  the  sides  of  an  obelisk,  that  had  been  exca- 
vated and  nearly  hewn  into  shape  when  the  quarry  was  abandoned, 
and  which  has  remained  exactly  in  the  same  condition  since.  It 
measures  seventy  feet  in  length.  Except  at  the  apex,  detached 
from  the  native  rock  on  three  sides,  it  is  completely  chiselled,  and 
ready  for  polishing.  The  holes  in  the  rock,  on  either  side,  can  be 
seen,  which  received  the  wedges  used  in  splitting  off  the  external 
masses.  We  recalled  here  an  inscription  found  on  the  great  obelisk 
at  Karnak.  It  recites  that  the  monument  was  excavated  at  these 
quarries  of  Assouan,  finished,  conveyed  to  Karnak,  and  erected  on 
its  base  there,  all  within  the  period  of  two  hundred  and  ten  days. 
Wliat  was  the  intended  destination  of  this  obelisk  at  Assouan? 
Why  was  it  left  unfinished  ?  Probably  an  invasion  demanded  that 
all  subjects  of  the  state  should  rush  to  its  defence.  It  is  always  a 
sorry  and  a  sad  sight  to  contemplate  any  great  work  that  has  been 
abandoned  incomplete.  We  wonder  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States  can  endure  the  sio-ht  of  the  unfinished  monument  of  Wash- 
ington  at  the  capital.  But  it  is  infinitely  more  sad  to  see  a  ruin, 
the  construction  of  which  was  arrested  by  a  blow  that  not  only 
arrested  that  work,  but  arrested  forever  the  stream  of  national  life. 
It  is  with  thoughts  something  like  these  that  one  looks  over  the 
marble  blocks  which  were  just  being  chiselled  to  repair  the  Forum 
of  Pompeii,  when  the  city  itself  was  buried  in  a  night,  by  the  ashes 


PHIL^.  559 

from  Yesuvius.  Historians  try  to  show  us  how  such  prodigious 
labor  was  possible  in  ancient  Egypt.  They  conjecture  that  the 
Pharaohs  were  despots,  and  that  the  quarries  of  Assouan  were  a 
prison.  But  these  conjectures  are  unsatisfactory.  Despotism  and 
penal  imprisonment  have  at  some  time  prevailed  in  nearly  every 
country  on  earth,  but  Egypt  is  the  only  country  that  has  built 
pyramids  and  excavated  obelisks.  Devotional  affection  was  the 
strongest  in  the  earliest  ages.  These  Egyptian  monuments  are  the 
expressions  of  reverence  to  the  gods.  There  will  be  no  occasion 
hereafter  for  mankind  to  produce  such  gigantic  utterances  in  stone. 
Christian  faith  and  reverence  can  express  a  higher  and  purer  devo- 
tion to  the  Creator  by  the  use  of  types  of  lead  and  a  printing-press. 
The  savants  who  accompanied  Bonaparte's  army  into  Egypt  re- 
port that  there  were  then  two  temples  on  the  island  of  Elephantina 
— one  facing  down  the  Nile,  and  called  the  "  Temple  of  the  North ; " 
one  looking  upward,  and  called  the  "  Temple  of  the  South."  These, 
together  with  a  nilometer,  have  been  entirely  swept  away  by  inmi- 
dations.  There  is  still  remaining  there  a  statue  of  Osiris,  with  a 
date  inscribed  on  it  three  thousand  one  hundred  years  ago. 

Philce,  May  23^7.— We  left  our  boat,  with  the  other  shipping  at 
Assouan,  at  dawn  this  morning,  and  came,  as  usual,  mounted  on 
donkeys  and  camels,  through  the  desert,  to  this  place — the  upper 
verge  of  the  cataract.  Our  way  was  over  rocky  hills  and  through 
equally  desolate  ravines,  whose  only  shade  is  the  naked,  overhang- 
ing mountain-sides  ;  nor  is  there  on  the  whole  way  a  single  green 
leaf  or  blade  of  grass.  An  Austrian  mission  has  erected  a  plain 
and  comfortable  edifice  hei-e,  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  eight  miles 
above  Assouan,  and  facing  Philag.  This  is  the  customary  terminus 
of  the  voyage  of  all  travellers  on  the  Nile,  as  it  is  of  ours.  We 
find  here  a  curious  proof  that  the  ancient  Egyptians  regarded  a 
voyage  up  the  Nile  as  gratifying  an  achievement  as  it  is  esteemed 
by  us.  The  granite  rocks  here  are  covered  with  inscriptions,  re- 
citing their  success  in  making  the  great  voyage.  Some  were  con- 
tent with  simply  registering  their  names.  William  Freeman  regis- 
tered his  name  in  the  same  modest  way.     One  ambitious  tourist 


560 


EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 


engraved  himself,  in  intaglio,  reverentially  worshipping  the  gods 
of  the  cataract !  The  same  rocks,  cm*iously  enough,  contain  ac- 
counts inscribed  by  Egyptians,  by  generals,  princes,  and  kings,  of 
their  successful  expeditions  against  Ethiopia.  The  cataract  of  the 
Nile  has  its  parallel  in  many  countries — the  volume  of  a  vast  river 
broken,  as  it  descends  to  a  lower  level,  by  green  islands  and  barren 
rocks.  Such  are  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony,  the  falls 
of  the  Mohawk,  and  many  falls  on  the  Upper  Hudson  and  the  Po- 


tomac. But  the  cataract  of  the  Nile  has  a  grandeur  surpassing  all 
these,  in  the  stern  setting  of  the  beautiful  picture  in  a  framework 
of  impassable  deserts.  Out  of  the  midst  of  the  dashing  torrent 
rises  the  beautiful  island  of  Philse.  The  whole  island,  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  long,  and  scarcely  more  than  two  hundred  feet  wide,  is 
picturesquely  crowned  with  graceful  temples  and  colonnades.  The 
sites  of  these  structures  were  chosen  by  artistic  eyes.  In  this  re- 
spect, Philae  stands  alone.  Every  colonnade  and  every  gate-way  was 
evidently  built  with  a  view  to  excite  the  traveller's  imagination  as  he 


if''liiiili 


FRENCH   TABLET.  561 

miglit  approacli  the  sacred  island.  The  firm  and  lofty  bases  of  the 
temple  seem  like  a  solid  wall  encircling  its  entire  area.  The  base, 
at  the  same  time,  serves  as  a  quay  for  the  mooring  of  the  boats  of 
visitors,  and  affords  them  chambers  to  rest  in  before  entering  the 
temple.  The  architecture  of  Philas  is  not,  like  all  the  ruins  we 
have  seen,  purely  or  chiefly  Egyptian.  The  ancient  Egyptians  only 
began  it.  It  was  completed  by  the  Greeks  after  Alexander,  who 
were  content  to  improve  Egyptian  models  without  destroying  them 
or  substituting  their  own.  Hence  there  is  a  delicacy  and  grace  of 
execution  in  the  ruins  of  Philae  that  is  not  seen  in  other  Egyptian 
temples.  The  ruins  give  us  some  interesting  modern  historical  in- 
formation. I^ear  the  close  of  the  fourth  century,  as  every  one 
reads,  the  Emperor  Theodosius,  of  the  Eastern  Empire,  issued  an 
edict  at  Constantinople,  by  which  he  proscribed  and  abolished  the 
ancient  Egyptian  religion.  Among  the  inscriptions  in  the  temples, 
recording  the  visits  of  travellers  there,  are  those  of  priests  of  that 
religion  who  performed  here  their  rites  in  honor  of  Isis  and  Osiris 
sixty  years  after  the  promulgation  of  the  decree.  There  is  a  tablet 
in  the  propylieum  of  the  Temple  of  the  East,  on  which  is  carefully 
engraved : 

"  L'an  6  de  la  republique,  le  13  Messidor,  une  armee  Frangaise, 
commandee  par  Buonaparte,  est  descendue  a  Alexandrie ;  1' armee 
ayant  mis  vingt  jours  apres,  les  Mamelukes  en  fuite  aux  pyramides, 
Dessaix,  commandant  la  premiere  division  les  a  poursuivi  au-dela 
des  cataractes,  oii  il  est  arrive  le  13  Yentose,  de  l'an  7."  * 

How  curious  that  almost  the  only  monument  which  the  French 
Republic  of  '93  has  left  is  this  one,  which  records  a  great  foreign 
achievement  of  a  hero  who  defended  it  only  to  subvert  it !  How 
prone  unsophisticated  nature  is  to  exaggerate  the  marvellous  ! 
Mariette  Bey  quotes  a  French  traveller  of  the  age  of  Louis  XI Y. 
as  saying  that  the  thunders  of  the  cataract  of  the  Nile  deafen  the 


'  Translation.—"  On  the  13th  Messidor  of  the  year  6  of  the  republic  "  (July  3, 1799), 
"  the  French  army,  commanded  by  Bonaparte,  landed  at  Alexandria.  At  the  Pyr- 
amids, twenty  days  later,  the  Mamelukes  having  been  put  to  flight  by  the  army,  Dessaix 
commanding  the  first  division,  pursued  them  above  the  cataract,  where  he  arrived  on  the 
13th  Ventose  of  the  year  7  "  (March  5,  1800). 


562  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

inhabitants  for  miles  around.  Mr.  Seward  remembers  to  have  seen 
on  an  old  English  map  a  picture  of  Niagara  Falls,  with  a  note  under 
it  saying,  "  These  falls  are  a  quarter  of  a  mile  high  ! "  Having 
made  these  profound  critical  reflections,  we  descend  the  Grand 
Quay  and  go  on  board  a  dahabeah,  to  make  our  way  through  the 
foaming  rapids  and  the  roaring  eddies  and  whirlpools  to  our  Crofco- 
dile,  which  awaits  us  at  Assouan,  and  at  this  moment  an  incident 
occurs  which  is  worth  recording,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  that  of 
its  instructions  in  economy.  We  see  a  native  man  and  woman 
emerge  from  the  magnificent  classic  colonnade  at  the  water's  edge 
of  the  island,  plunge  into  the  rushing  river,  and  make  their  way 
directly  across  to  the  Libyan  coast.  They  have  taken  off  all  their 
clothing  and  heaped  it  in  solid  parcels  on  their  heads,  while  they 
walk  securely  through  the  wild  and  dangerous  rapids.  This  is,  in- 
deed, the  customary  form  of  ferriage  on  the  Nile.  It  has  often 
amused  us  to  see  a  river-boat,  which  has  come  up  from  Cairo 
freighted  with  natives,  stop,  and,  w^ithout  boat  or  plank,  deliver  its 
passengers  in  the  middle  of  the  river.  The  passenger  puts  his  lug- 
gage on  his  head,  and  leaps  into  the  river,  saying,  philosophically 
and  cheerfully  :  "  If  it  is  my  Msmet "  (fate),  "  I  shall  perish  ;  if  not, 
I  shall  reach  the  bank." 

If  we  have  turned  our  backs  reluctantly  upon  the  Mountains  of 
the  Moon  and  the  sources  of  the  Nile,  we  must  console  ourselves 
with  the  reflection  that  we  have  seen  regions  which  neither  Alex- 
ander, nor  Julius  Caesar,  nor  Genghis  Khan,  nor  Tamerlane,  nor 
apostolic  prophet,  nor  Columbus,  nor  Napoleon,  nor  Magellan,  nor 
Vasco  de  Gama,  ever  explored. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

LAST  DAYS  IN  EGYPT. 

• 

The  Vice-Consul's  Harem. — Kenneh  and  its  Pottery. — Tlie  Sugar  of  Egypt. — Memphis. — 
Its  Ruins. — The  Downfall  of  Idolaters. — Again  at  Cairo. — Conversation  with  a 
Pacha. — Alexandria. — Aspect  of  the  City. — Interview  with  the  Khedive. — Sir  Henry 
Bulwer. — Fompey's  Pillar. — The  Khedive's  Yacht. — Concluding  Reflections  on  Egypt. 

Thebes,  May  'i\th. — We  fastened  here  at  Luxor,  this  afternoon. 
Sultan  Pacha,  the  governor,  and  the  United  States  vice-consul,  were 
on  the  wharf  to  welcome  us  back.  While  Mr.  Seward  entertained 
these  former  dignified  personages  on  board,  the  vice-consul  con- 
ducted the  ladies  to  his  little  harem.  His  domestic  establishment, 
coarse  and  plain,  is  in  striking  contrast  with  this  loyal  representa- 
tive's pretentious  official  residence,  at  which  we  were  so  sumptu- 
ously dined  on  our  way  up  the  river.  On  reaching  the  door,  the 
ladies  ascended,  by  a  very  narrow,  steep,  and  not  particularly  clean 
flight  of  stairs,  to  the  house-top ;  wdiere,  it  being  after  sunset,  they 
sat  during  their  visit,  without  protection.  The  furniture  of  the 
room  consisted  of  a  bed  and  two  chairs.  An  African  handmaid 
was  in  attendance.  Presently  the  wife  of  the  consul,  a  slender, 
middle-aged  w^oman,  came  up  the  stairs,  veiled,  and  neatly  dressed 
in  deep  black,  with  heavy  silver  bracelets  and  bangles.  She  re- 
ceived our  salutation  timidly,  remained  standing,  and  presented 
her  three  pretty,  olive-skinned  children — one  boy  and  two  girls. 
The  ladies  turned  to  the  consul  and  said,  "  But  you  told  us  you  had 
but  one  child  ? "     He  answered,  "  I  have  but  one  boy ;  we  do  not 


564  EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 

count  girls."  The  mother  entirely  agreed  with  him,  and  expressed 
her  mortificatjon,  in  Arabic,  that  two  of  the  children  should  be  so 
perverse  as  to  belong  to  the  inferior  sex !  This  woman  has  no 
responsibility  except  the  care  of  her  children.  The  visit,  being  one 
of  ceremony,  ended  with  coffee,  chibouques,  and  sherbets,  brought 
by  the  handmaiden  from  the  consul's  house.  We  retire  to  rest  by 
the  light  of  the  Southern  Cross,  the  last  time  that  soon,  if  perhaps 
ever,  it  shall  spread  its  light  for  us,  though  we  have  many  seas  yet 
to  navigate,  and  many  lands  yet  to  explore,  before  we  reach  our 
home. 

Beni-IIassan,  May  '2^th. — We  steamed  down  the  river  from 
Thebes  on  the  morning  of  the  25th,  having  for  the  last  sound  there 
the  sharp  report  of  the  vice-consul's  musket  firing  a  national  salute ; 
and,  for  the  last  sight,  the  flags  of  the  United  States,  Brazil,  and 
Egypt,  waving  from  a  staif  high  above  the  columns,  walls,  and 
obelisks  of  Karnak  and  Luxor.  We  stopped  for  coal  at  Kenneh,  a 
lively,  commercial  Arab  town,  and  the  seat  of  the  manufacture  of 
the  porous  earthen  pottery  used  throughout  Egypt  for  cooling  and 
clarifying  the  Nile-water.  Roads  across  the  Arabian  Desert  ex- 
tend this  trade  by  caravans  to  Persia,  and  the  banks  of  the  Euphra- 
tes and  Tigris.  European  governments  have  consulates  here, 
which  are  filled  by  wealthy  Arab  merchants.  The  German  consul, 
of  the  same  class,  entertained  us  in  a  residence  so  stately  that  it 
would  not  ill  become  a  foreigner,  resident  in  Cairo.  We  coaled 
again  at  Siout,  went  ashore  at  Rodah,  and  visited  the  immense  su- 
gar refinery  there,  the  private  property  of  the  Khedive.  Sugar  is 
the  principal  staple  of  Upper  Egypt,  while  Lower  Egypt  produces 
none.  The  viceroy  is  the  principal  producer  and  manufacturer 
for  the  whole  country.  The  cane  is  brought  to  Rodah  in  boats 
from  various  plantations,  which  contain  in  the  aggregate  ninety 
thousand  acres.  The  machinery  is  of  British  manufacture,  and 
equal  to  the  best  in  Cuba.  When  we  compare  the  extensive  culti- 
vation on  the  banks,  and  the  activity  of  trade  on  the  river,  as  we 
approach  Cairo,  with  the  sterility  and  desolation  of  the  banks  at 
the  cataract,  this  return-voyage,  down  the  Nile,  seems  to  us  like  a 


ANCIENT   MEMPHIS.  565 

return  from  a  sojourn  in  the  "  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death "  to 
the  land  of  the  living.  The  deserts  on  either  side,  with  their 
mountain-crests,  recede  gradually  from  the  banks  ;  and  the  valley, 
largely  covered  with  date-orchards  and  sugar-cane,  wears  a  green- 
ness which  shows  that  we  have  left  the  tropics  behind  us  to  come 
again  into  the  temperate  zone.  Small  as  the  range  of  manufacture 
and  local  trade  is,  the  inhabitants  are  intelligent  and  active,  in 
striking  contrast  to  the  people  of  the  Upper  Nile.  Sultan  Pacha, 
with  his  steamer,  has  kindly  acted  as  convoy  to  the  Crocodile,  and, 
whenever  we  have  stopped,  we  have  shared  the  honors  which  a 
simple  and  subjugated  people  show  him.  At  every  landing,  boats 
discharge  their  freights  of  delicious  watermelons,  as  presents  or  for 
taxes  in  kind,  on  his  deck,  and  the  finest  of  them  soon  find  their 
way  to  ours.  Nothing  could  be  more  acceptable  in  this  diy,  hot 
climate. 

Memphis^  Tuesday^  May  30th. — Our  last  day  on  the  Nile !  The 
downward  voyage  has  been  made  without  other  accident  than  an 
occasional  running  high  and  dry  on  sand-banks,  from  which  we 
were  hauled  off  sometimes  by  our  noisy  Arab  crew,  sometimes  by 
our  steady  convoy.  The  Pyramids  of  Dashur,  far  distant  from  the 
bank,  though  in  full  view  from  the  river,  then  those  of  Sakkara 
next  seen,  beckoned  to  us  to  stop  and  take  a  survey  of  ancient 
Memphis.  Our  approach  to  Cairo  was  made  known  to  us  by  the 
grim  towering  points  of  Ghizeh. 

A  citizen  of  Chicago  would  think  it  labor  lost  in  visiting  this 
renowned  ancient  capital.  It  is  so  soon  done  for.  As  we  advance 
inward  from  the  valley  of  the  Nile  toward  the  desert,  we  pass  some 
irregular  black  knolls,  which  are  covered  with  clumps  of  date- 
palms.  On  the  surface  of  these  hillocks  we  saw,  here  and  there, 
not  bowlders,  but  blocks  of  hewn  granite,  no  one  stone  lying  on 
another.  Occasionally  the  knoll,  having  been  partially  cut  away 
for  agricultural  purposes,  reveals  a  heap  of  broken  bricks.  In  a 
sunken  ditch,  now  dry,  but  which  is  filled  by  the  Nile  when  at 
flood,  lies  prostrate,  with  face  downward,  a  monolith  statue  of  Ka- 
meses   II.,  usually  identified   as  the  great   Sesostris.     Its  whole 


566  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

height  was  sixty  feet.  The  stone  is  a  flinty  limestone.  It  was 
nine  in  the  morning  when  we  arrived  off  the  accepted  site.  The 
bank  is  a  plain  six  or  seven  miles  wide,  crossed  by  canals  of  irriga- 
tion in  all  directions,  and  large  portions  of  it  are  subject  to  annual 
inundation.  The  current  being  very  strong,  we  found  neither 
wharf  nor  anchorage,  nor  even  a  place  for  mooring.  We,  there- 
fore, turned  about  and  passed  up  the  river  to  a  convenient  cove  used 
for  a  ferry.  Crossing  the  plain,  we  left  behind  us  the  river  winding 
between  fertile  plains  ;  below  us  Beni-Hassan  ;  opposite,  on  the 
right  bank,  a  Coptic  convent,  and  an  abandoned  line  of  military 
signal-stations ;  the  view  bounded  on  the  north  by  Old  Cairo  and 
the  citadel,  here  only  just  visible.  Two  or  three  miles  before  us, 
on  the  plain,  a  modern  Egyptian  town,'  with  the  Arabic  name  of 
Myt-Rahyneh,  nestling  among  dry  sand-hills  ;  in  the  distance  the 
Pyramids  of  Sakkara,  seeming  to  cluster  against  the  horizon  with 
those  of  Ghizeh.  The  eflaciency  of  the  Khedive's  government  was 
shown  by  the  promptness  with  which,  in  compliance  with  a  dis- 
patch which  Betts  Bey  sent  from  Beni-Hassan,  twenty  or  thirty 
men  appeared,  with  chairs  and  donkeys,  to  meet  us.  We  rested  at 
Myt-Rahyneh  long  enough  to  reorganize  our  train,  and  partake  of 
sherbet  and  coffee  under  some  acacias,  which  protect  the  only  well 
in  the  village,  and  then  resumed  our  way  across  the  level  plain, 
over  cultivated  fields,  and  crossing  the  canals  on  bridges  for  a  dis- 
tance of  four  miles,  when  we  reached  the  squalid  hamlet  of  Sak- 
kara. 

It  was  near  sunset  when  we  embarked,  leaving  behind  us  for- 
ever the  city  of  Memphis — Memphis,  founded  by  Menes,  the  home 
of  the  authors  of  civilization  ;  the  builders  of  the  Pyramids,  the 
kings  who  knew,  and  the  kings  who  knew  not  Joseph !  Memphis, 
whose  sedgy  bank  was  the  cradle  of  Moses,  whose  council-chambers 
heard  the  warnings  of  the  prophet  of  Israel,  and  the  denunciations 
of  the  divine  plagues  !  Memphis,  from  whose  walls  issued  the 
chariots  and  horsemen  which  were  lost  in  the  pursuit  of  the  Israel- 
ites through  the  waters  of  the  Red  Sea  !  As  we  reflect  uj)on  the 
monuments  we  have  seen  to-day  of  the  senseless  worship  of  bulls, 
birds,  crocodiles,  and  hippopotami,  the  mockery  alike  of  religion 


RETURN   TO   CAIRO.  567 

and  of  knowledge,  we  wonder  less  than  ever  that  the  first  and 
chief  instruction  which  Moses  the  deliverer  conveyed  to  his  people 
was,  "  Thou  shalt  have  no  other  gods  before  me,"  The  time  had 
come  when  the  world  needed  that  command.  Perhaps  the  expe- 
rience of  the  proneness  of  mankind  to  disregard  it  may  be  the  ex- 
planation of  the  severity  of  the  discipline  by  which  it  has  pleased 
the  great  Lawgiver  of  the  Universe  to  enforce  that  command.  He 
has  cut  off  the  nations  that  have  refused  it : 

"  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  ;  I  will  destroy  the  idols,  and  I  will 
cause  their  images  to  cease  out  of  Noph  "  (Memphis) ;  "  and  there 
shall  be  no  more  a  prince  of  the  land  of  Egypt :  and  I  will  put  a 
fear  in  the  land  of  Egypt." 

Cairo,  May  Zlst. — We  came  to  the  wharf  by  moonlight,  at  ten 
o'clock  last  night.  Carriages  were  waiting  to  convey  us  through 
the  streets  of  Cairo,  of  which  every  mosque  was  illuminated,  and 
merry  crowds  of  natives  were  assembled  at  the  fountains  and 
shrines.  It  was  the  birthday  of  Mohammed — the  day  on  which 
the  pilgrims  returned  from  Mecca  are  publicly  received  by  the 
Khedive,  and  honored  with  religious  ceremonies  at  the  mosques, 
"We  passed  at  the  base  of  the  citadel  the  public  square,  where,  a 
few  hours  before,  the  sheik  of  the  Great  Mosque,  mounted  on  a 
heavy  charger,  had  ridden  over  a  long  pavement  of  prostrate  devo- 
tees, without  inflicting,  as  they  allege,  a  fracture,  a  bruise,  or  even 
a  pain.  At  eleven  o'clock  we  were  again  at  our  residence  in  the 
Kasr-Nudzha  after  an  excursion  of  nineteen  days,  during  which  no 
danger  was  experienced,  no  disappointment  incurred,  and  no  want, 
either  of  comfort  or  luxury,  un supplied, 

Mr.  Seward's  first  desire  this  morning  was  an  audience  of  the 
Khedive,  in  which  he  might  make  his  acknowledgments  to  his 
princely  host  for  this  rich  experience.  But  they  have  politics  in 
Egypt  as  elsewhere.  The  Khedive  Avent  yesterday  morning  to 
Alexandria.  Speculation  is  rife  as  to  the  reason  of  his  journey, 
and  as  to  the  probable  length  of  his  absence — some  saying  that  he 
is  summoned  to  Constantinople,  where  he  may  be  poisoned,  and 
the  most  hopeful   agreeing  that  he  will  not  return  to  Cairo  for 


568  EGYPT  AND   P.iLESTINE. 

several  weeks.  He  was  attended  by  his  harem  and  the  Princess 
Valide,  who,  gossip  says,  always  makes  his  coffee  for  him  on  his 
journeys,  and  gives  it  to  him  with  her  own  hands,  to  guard  against 
possible  attempts  at  poisoning.  He  has  kindly  left  instructions  for 
receiving  Mr.  Seward  at  Alexandria. 

June  Ath. — A  very  free  conversation  between  a  distinguished 
pacha  and  Mr.  Seward  at  dinner  to-day  disclosed  a  discouraging  po- 
litical situation  in  Egypt.  The  pacha  thinks  that  foreign  states 
ought  to  discuss  directly  with  the  Egyptian  Government  all  ques- 
tions of  mutual  interest,  instead  of  treating  with  the  Turkish  Gov- 
ment  at  Constantinople.  Mr.  Seward  said  :  "  The  Egyptian  Gov- 
ernment must  go  deeper  into  the  matter  of  international  law  than 
this.  At  present,  the  relations  of  Egypt,  as  well  as  of  the  whole 
Turkish  Empire,  to  the  Christian  nations  are  provisional,  somewhat 
of  the  nature  of  those  established  by  an  armistice  on  the  battle- 
field. The  Mohammedan  states  have  neglected  or  refused  to  ac- 
cept the  laws  of  nations  as  matured  by  the  Christian  states.  The 
European  states  consent  to  remain  at  peace  with  the  Mohammedan 
states,  but  only  on  the  condition  that  the  latter  shall  exercise  no 
jurisdiction  or  authority  over  the  persons  or  property  of  subjects 
of  Christian  countries.  Every  foreigner,  therefore,  residing  in 
Eg}qDt,  whether  English,  French,  German,  Greek,  or  American,  in- 
vokes in  his  own  behalf  the  intervention  of  his  own  government, 
and  submits  himself  only  to  its  judgments  when  complaint  is 
made  against  him  by  the  Egyptian  Government.  Foreigners  pay  no 
taxes^  and  render  no  military  services  ;  and  yet  trade,  art,  and  manu- 
factures, such  as  you  have,  seem  almost  exclusively  in  their  hands. 
This  condition  is  unsatisfactory  to  the  Khedive  and  to  the  states- 
men of  Egypt.  I  learn  this,  not  only  from  your  own  conversation, 
but  from  the  fact  that  the  Khedive  has  organized  a  legislature,  and 
has  instituted  negotiations  with  the  Western  powers  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  mixed  foreign  and  native  judiciary,  to  have  charge 
of  questions  in  which  foreigners  are  concerned.  But  I  do  not 
learn  that  the  Ottoman  Porte,  to  which  Egypt  is  a  tributary,  sym- 
pathizes at  all  with  the  Khedive  in  his  very  reasonable  aspirations. 


THE  DELTA.  569 

The  reason  probably  is,  that  the  Ottoman  Porte  finds  its  best  se- 
curity against  foreign  dangers  in  its  compliance  with  the  will  of  the 
dominant  European  powers.  On  their  part,  these  powers  cannot 
maintain  a  policy  of  protection  toward  Turkey  except  by  insisting 
upon  the  existing  stipulations.  It  does  not  become  me  to  speculate 
here  on  questions  which  affect  the  relations  of  Egypt  to  the  Turk- 
ish Empire.  I  am  here  the  guest  of  both,  but  I  may  be  allowed  to 
say  that  what  I  think  Egypt  most  needs  is  the  opening  of  the  coun- 
try to  Europeans  and  Christians  for  cultivation,  and  a  compulsory 
system  of  education  of  the  whole  mass  of  children  of  both  sexes, 
native  and  foreign,  by  which,  in  no  very  long  time,  Egypt  will  raise 
a  class  who  will  be  capable  of  carrying  on  trade,  banking,  manufac- 
tories, internal  improvements,  and  military  instruction,  as  well  as 
of  exercising  the  other  occupations  which  are  now  chiefly  filled  by 
foreigners.  The  system  of  education  thus  to  be  established  ought 
to  be  built  up  as  fast  and  as  far  as  possible  on  the  principles  of  the 
Western  nations.  Until  this  is  done,  I  see  little  hope  for  the 
emancipation  of  Egypt  from  its  double  thraldom  ;  first,  to  the  Otto- 
man Porte ;  and,  second,  through  the  dependency  of  the  Ottoman 
Porte,  to  the  Christian  nations  of  Europe,  This  prospect  will 
seem  to  you  distant,  but  rivalries  between  the  European  states  are 
inevitable,  and  I  think  that  you  will  find  some  one  or  more  of  them 
always  willing  to  favor,  measures  which  tend  to  the  advancement 
of  civilization  in  Egypt,  and  her  admission  into  the  family  of  inde- 
pendent nations." 

Alexandria^  June  ^th. — The  Khedive's  consideration  contin- 
ues. Leaving  the  pleasant  Kasr-Nudzha,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  we  crossed  the  Delta  in  a  special  train,  attended,  as  on 
our  entrance  into  Cairo,  by  Betts  Bey  and  the  United  States  con- 
sul-general. What  need  is  there  to  say  here  that  just  below  Heli- 
opolis,  while  yet  in  the  traditional  land  of  Goshen,  we  crossed  the 
Damietta  branch  of  the  Nile ;  that  the  Delta  spreads  out  here  to  the 
width  of  a  hundred  miles,  so  that,  for  the  first  time  since  our  arrival 
in  Egypt,  we  lose  sight  both  of  the  Arabian  Desert  and  of  the  des- 
ert of  Libya ;  that  we  crossed,  lower  down,  the  Rosetta  branch  of 

43 


570  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

the  Nile,  and  that,  as  we  approached  the  Mediterranean,  we  had  a 
view  of  the  Mahmoud  Canal,  which  carries  the  inland  trade  of 
Alexandria ;  and  that  later  we  traversed  the  shore  of  the  now  shal- 
low Lake  Moeris,  thousands  of  years  ago  the  bed  of  the  Nile  ? 
This  vast  and  fertile  plain,  while  it  exhibits  the  usual  assiduous 
industry  of  the  fellahs,  at  the  same  time  shows  some  approximation 
toward  European  customs  and  manners. 

The  site  of  Alexandria  is  naturally  dry,  stern,  and  sterile,  as 
forbidding  as  the  deserts  which  form  on  either  side  of  the  Upper 
Nile.  But  with  the  growth  of  commerce,  in  the  course  of  two 
thousand  years,  this  forbidding  African  coast  has  assumed  a  cheer- 
ful aspect.  Irrigation  has  produced  here  rich  gardens,  groves,  and 
orchards.  All  the  eminences,  within  the  range  of  vision,  are  sur- 
mounted by  windmills,  and  the  approaches  to  the  city  in  every 
direction  are  adorned  with  \allas,  in  which  Italian  taste  is  pleas- 
antly combined  with  the  Oriental.  On  our  right,  towers  the  tall, 
dark  shaft  of  Pompey's  pillar. 

The  Khedive's  military  staff  received  Mr.  Seward  at  the  station, 
and  attended  him  to  the  Hotel  d* Angleterre,  placed  at  his  disposal 
by  direction  of  the  Government.  On  our  way,  Mr.  Seward  re- 
marked the  great  improvements  which  have  taken  place  since  he 
was  here  in  1859,  and  pointed  out  the  catacombs  of  the  ancient 
Egyptians  in  the  high  embankment,  which  have  been  exposed  by 
the  cutting  of  streets  directly  through  and  over  them.  Our  hotel 
fronts  the  great  public  square,  which  on  either  side  is  lined  with 
palatial  residences  in  the  European  style.  It  seems  as  if  we  had 
already  entered  Europe,  and  left  Egypt  behind  us.  A  throng  of 
fashionably-dressed  Europeans  are  promenading,  and  French  and 
English  equipages  are  frequent  in  the  streets.  The  Italian  opera 
demands  our  immediate  attendance  on  the  opposite  square,  and 
every  thing  shows  us  that  at  last,  after  ten  months'  travel  among 
the  semi-barbarous  nations  of  the  East,  we  have  at  last  reached  a 
gay  though  exotic  European  city. 

June  6th. — A  political  day.  Mr.  Seward,  this  morning,  had  a 
parting  audience  of  the  Khedive  in  his  palace,  on  the  island  of  Pha- 


INTERVIEW   WITH   THE   KHEDIVE.  5Y1 

ros,  facing  the  sea.  His  highness  evidently  regards  Alexandria  as 
a  provincial  residence,  and  gratifies  the  people  with  a  greater  dis- 
play of  state  pomp  and  ceremony  than  he  customarily  indulges  in 
at  Cairo.  The  palace-gates  were  guarded,  and  its  courts  graced 
with  battalions  of  fine  troops.  The  Khedive  received  Mr.  Seward 
with  warm  congratulations  on  his  return,  and  made  many  kind 
inquiries  about  his  voyage  up  the  Nile,  which,  at  so  late  a  season, 
he  had  regarded  with  grave  apprehensions.  He  hoped  that,  while 
impressed  by  the  wonderful  antiquities  of  the  country,  Mr.  Seward 
would  carry  away  from  it  a  conviction  that  it  is  advancing  in  the 
path  of  Western  civiHzation  as  fast  as  under  the  circumstances 
could  be  expected.  He  desired  to  know  whether  any  thing  remained 
that  he  could  do  to  render  Mr.  Seward's  stay  at  Alexandria  agree- 
able. Mr.  Seward  told  him  there  was  nothing,  but  that  he  would 
ask  one  parting  favor,  in  addition  to  all  the  kindnesses  he  had  re- 
ceived. The  Khedive  promised  to  grant  it  before  it  was  asked. 
Mr.  Seward  said,  "  Betts  Bey  has  been  indefatigable  in  the  care  and 
attention  which  he  has  bestowed  upon  us,  but  his  service  to  your 
highness  is  so  diligent  and  constant  that  he  never  finds  an  oppor- 
tunity for  recreation.  I  learn  from  him  that  he  has  never  seen  Pal- 
estine, whither  I  am  going.  He  is  a  Christian,  as  I  am,  and  a 
pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  once  in  his  life,  would  make  him 
no  more  incapable  of  official  service  in  a  Mohammedan  court.  He 
has  not  suggested  a  desire  to  accompany  me,  nor  have  I  apprised 
him  of  my  intention  to  make  this  request,  but  I  shall  esteem  it  a 
last  and  great  favor,  if  you  will  direct  that  he  may  accompany  me 
to  Jerusalem." 

"  Granted  at  once,"  said  the  Khedive.  "  Betts  Bey  deserves  it, 
and  pilgrimage  to  holy  places  cannot  but  make  us  all  better  men, 
whatever  may  be  our  religious  belief." 

Engaging  Mr.  Seward  to  advise  him  of  his  health  and  safety  in 
the  further  progress  of  his  journey,  and  expressing  an  earnest  de- 
sire to  visit  him  some  time  in  the  United  States,  the  Khedive  shook 
hands  with  Mr.  Seward,  and  the  latter  took  his  leave.  Arms  were 
presented  as  he  retired  and  joined  his  party  at  the  palace-gates. 
Thence  Mr.  Seward  proceeded  to  pay  a  visit  to  Lord  Dalling,  late 


572 


EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 


Sir  Henry  Bulwer,  who  is  now  on  a  visit  to  Egypt,  and,  like  Mr. 
Seward,  a  guest  of  the  Khedive.  He  has  his  residence  in  a  villa 
on  the  canal,  outside  of  the  city-gates.  This  interview  was  a  very 
pleasant  one.  Sir  Henry  Bulwer  was  the  British  minister  at 
Washington  during  the  administration  of  President  Taylor,  when 
Mr.  Seward  was  first  entering  upon  his  senatorial  term.  A  cordial 
friendship  then  grew  up  between  them,  in  consequence  of  their 
mutual  efforts  to  secure  the  so-called  "  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty," 
which,  with  a  view  to  transcontinental  communication  across  the 
Isthmus,  stipulated  the  independence  of  the  Central- American  re- 
publics. The  two  statesmen  compared  notes  very  fully  on  the 
attitudes  of  their  respective  Governments  toward  each  other  dur- 


pompet's  pillar. 


POMPEY'S  PILLAR.  573 

ing  the  late  civil  war  in  the  United  States^  and  the  late  British 
ambassador  expressed  his  satisfaction  at  the  result  of  the  conflict, 
as  Mr.  Seward  did  his  hope  for  the  firm  establishment  of  the  cor- 
dial friendship  between  the  two  nations.  Lord  Bailing  seems  so 
confirmed  an  mvalid,  that  Mr.  Seward  asked,  after  leaving  his 
lordship,  which  of  the  two  seemed  most  shattered  with  age  and 
infirmity. 

Pompey's  pillar,  though  at  a  distance  it  seems  perfect,  is  gradu- 
ally succumbing  to  the  ravages  of  time.  Why  does  not  the  British 
Government  remove  the  fallen  "Cleopatra's  Needle,"  which  Me- 
hemet  Ali  presented  to  it  ?  London  would  be  none  the  worse  for 
such  an  embellishment.  If  they  shrink  from  the  task  of  removing 
it,  why  not  restore  the  great  ruler's  gift  to  his  successor  ?  We  are 
sure  that  Ismail  Pacha  would  make  no  delay  in  raising  it  on  its 
ancient  pedestal  in  Alexandria,  or  even  restoring  it  to  its  earlier 
place  at  Heliopolis.  Egyptian  obelisks,  thirty-three  hundred  years 
old,  are  certainly  too  valuable,  in  modern  times,  to  be  buried  in 
the  sand.  They  tell  an  amusing  tale  concerning  this  obelisk  here. 
An  ambitious  Alexandrian  bought  the  land  on  w^hich  it  lies,  to 
build  upon.  He  cannot  build  without  removing  the  obelisk.  He 
has  three  difficulties  about  removing  it :  first,  it  belongs  to  the 
British  Government ;  second,  it  would  cost  more  than  the  land  is 
worth  to  remove  it ;  third,  he  has  no  right  to  place  it  anywhere 
else.  They  say  he  walks  up  to  look  at  it  every  Sunday,  and  study 
the  problem,  which  still  remains  unsolved. 

June  1th. — The  American  military  officers  of  the  Khedive's  ser- 
vice, in  the  magnificent  gold-laced  uniform  of  the  Egyptian  army, 
called  on  Mr.  Seward  en  masse,  and  it  was  a  great  satisfaction  to 
him  to  find  one  place,  in  going  round  the  world,  where  the  Ameri- 
can agent,  political  or  religious,  expresses  his  entire  content  with 
the  government  of  the  country  he  resides  in. 

We  have  looked  up  and  down  the  Mahmoud  Canal,  as  well  as 
through  the  harbor  of  Alexandria,  without  finding  the  famous  barge 
of  Cleopatra.  The  most  ancient  vessel  we  have'  found  is  the 
Ariadne,  Captain   Marryat's  vessel,  on  which    he  wrote   "  Jacob 


574:  EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 

Faithful,"  and  which  is  lying  in  the  harbor,  dismantled,  and  used 
as  a  store-ship.  Another  historical  naval  relic  in  Alexandi'ia  Bay 
is  the  ship  Resolution,  in  which  Captain  Cook  made  his  last  voyage. 
This  hulk,  of  four  hundi-ed  tons,  now  black  and  brown,  is  used  as  a 
coaling-ship  by  the  Peninsular  and  Oriental  steamers. 

We  have  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  the  Khedive's  yacht — a 
sea-palace,  moving  with  steam-engines  and  side-wheels ;  its  bur- 
den, three  thousand  tons ;  its  speed,  seventeen  miles  an  hour ;  its 
armament,  eight  guns ;  its  naval  crew,  four  hundi-ed  and  fifty  men  ; 
its  staircases,  of  silver ;  its  floors,  covered  w^ith  Persian  and  Turkish 
carpets ;  its  windows  and  beds,  draped  with  satin  brocade ;  its  im- 
mense saloons,  hung  with  mirrors,  pictures,  and  chandeliers,  the 
finest  that  Paris  could  produce,  and  furnished  with  modern,  lavish, 
dazzling  splendor.  What  would  not  Plutarch  have  said  to  this  ? 
With  this  ship  Cleopatra  could  not  only  have  brought  Mark  Antony 
safely  away  from  Actium,  but  she  could  have  won  the  battle  for 
him,  which  would  have  been  better,  and  could  have  entertained 
him  more  sumptuously  even  than  in  her  famous  barge. 

Alexandria,  founded  by  the  Great  Conqueror,  whose  name  it 
bears,  after  his  death  supplanting  Memphis  imder  the  sway  of  the 
Ptolemies,  after  its  conquest  by  Julius  Csesar  emulating  Rome 
itself,  and  later  becoming  the  school  of  Christianity  in  the  East, 
then  eclipsed  by  Constantinople,  and  still  later  subjugated  by  the 
Mussulman  caliphs,  broken  down  by  their  successors  and  restored 
by  Mehemet  AH,  still  remains  a  great  commercial  city.  It  is  the 
entrepot  of  European  commerce  for  Egypt  and  India.  We  are  now 
to  see  it  undergo  a  still  further  trial.  Will  it  be  superseded  by 
Port  Said,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Suez  Canal  ? 

Port  Sdid^  June  9^A.— Leaving  Alexandria  yesterday  at  four 
o'clock,  we  resumed  our  voyage,  always  in  sight  of  the  Egyptian 
coast.  The  brio-ht  light  of  Pharos  reminded  us  that  it  was  here 
that  the  humane  institution  of  this  form  of  beacon  for  navigators 
had  its  origin,  in  a  structure  on  the  same  spot,  deemed  so  remark- 
able for  its  majesty  and  beauty  by  the  ancients,  as  to  be  accepted 
by  them  as  one  of  the  "  seven  wonders  of  the  world." 


PORT  SAID.  575 

A  customary  expression  of  regret  that  the  Alexandrian  Library 
was  lost  to  the  world,  led  Mr.  Seward  to  say  that,  perhaps,  it  is  not 
a  total  loss  after  all.  JS^ine-tenths  of  all  the  books  which  are  written 
in  the  world  are,  more  or  less,  transcripts  of  others  that  have  been 
written  before.  A  great  library  is  generally  only  a  store-house  of 
material  for  new  books.  It  would  be  strange,  indeed,  if,  one  way 
or  another,  any  of  the  ideas  which  were  recorded  in  the  million 
volumes  of  the  Alexandrian  Library  are  not  now  extant  in  other 
books,  Sd  a  library  lost  is  like  the  light  of  Pharos  which  was  lost 
— but  not  so  utterly  lost  that  it  cannot  be  replaced. 

In  the  course  of  the  night  we  passed  Rosetta,  after  Alexandria, 
the  chief  port  of  entry  of  the  Delta.  A  few  hours  later,  rounding 
easily  and  quietly  into  the  smooth  but  capacious  artificial  harbor  of 
Port  Said,  we  threw  over  an  anchor,  an  experience  which  seemed 
new  to  us,  after  our  three  weeks  of  tying  to  stakes  on  the  banks  of 
the  Nile. 

The  superintendent  ot  the  Suez  Canal,  desirous  that  Mr.  Seward 
should  examine  the  work  at  this  terminus,  as  he  had  at  the  other, 
kindly  put  a  small  steamer  at  our  service,  and,  embarking  on  this 
vessel  with  Mr.  Page,  United  States  consul,  we  made  an  excursion 
of  ten  miles  through  this  part  of  the  canal,  which  flows  in  a  deep 
channel,  between  high  embankments  faced  with  artificial  stone, 
and  is  built  through  the  middle  of  the  shallow  salt-lake  Menzaleh. 
It  seemed  to  us  that  human  patience  and  energy  have  never  been 
so  severely  tasked  as  in  raising  these  firm  and  solid  embankments 
upon  the  oozy  bed  which  had  been  saturated  and  soaked  with  the 
slimy  flood  of  the  Nile,  from  a  period,  perhaps,  earlier  than  the 
beginning  of  the  human  race. 

Port  Said  seems  quite  American.  The  site  of  the  little  town, 
so  recently  recovered  from  the  sea,  is  already  divided  and  sub- 
divided into  streets  and  squares,  and  the  universal  topic  of  con- 
versation is  the  eligibility  of  and  price  of  city-lots.  There  is  as 
yet  little  indication  of  internal  trade,  but  the  repairing  of  shipping, 
transshipment  of  passengers,  and  coaling  of  vessels,  aff'ord  profitable 
occupation  to  a  population  of  ten  thousand,  among  whom  are  found 
some  Germans,  some  Italians,  but  chiefly  immigrants  from  the  is- 


576  EGYPT  AKD   PALESTINE. 

lands  of  the  Levant.  We  dined  with  the  consul,  and  walked  through 
the  sandy  streets,  under  a  burning  sun. 

Whence  came  the  Egyptian  people?  How  was  it  that  they 
erected  and  maintained  so  great  and  flourishing  a  state,  construct- 
ing vaster  and  more  enduring  monuments  than  any  other  portion 
of  the  human  race,  and  why  after  these  marvellous  achievements 
did  they  entirely  cease  to  have  a  national  existence  ?  These  are 
as  great  mysteries  to  the  dwellers  in  Egypt  now  as  they  are  to  us. 
We  have  already  mentioned  that  an  Arab  told  us  that  the  Pyramids 
and  the  Sphinx  were  the  creation  of  genii  in  a  single  night.  A 
Copt,  attending  us  at  Dendera,  asked  us,  as  he  surveyed  the  ruins, 
"  Who  were  the  people  who  raised  these  wonderful  temples  and 
excavated  these  tombs?  Whence  did  they  come,  and  whither 
have  they  gone  ? "  We  are  not  inclined  to  accept  the  idea  that 
the  old  Egyptians  were  like  the  Copts.  The  Copts  of  the  pres- 
ent day  are  men  of  dark  skin,  while  all  the  statuary  and  paint- 
ings which  so  much  excite  our  interest  invariably  represent  and 
describe  the  Egyptians  as  "  red  men."  Certainly  they  were  neither 
negroes,  nor  Hindoos,  nor  Europeans — neither  blacks  nor  whites, 
like  the  blacks  and  whites  of  to-day.  Doubtless,  in  the  patriarchal 
period,  some  tribes  from  the  west  of  Asia,  Arabia,  perhaps  Meso- 
potamia and  Syria,  made  their  way  into  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  and 
instituted  society  there  some  centuries  before  the  visit  of  Joseph 
and  his  brethren.  Isolated  there,  and  yet  exposed  to  invasion  from 
Libya  and  Ethiopia,  as  well  as  from  Arabia,  these  tribes  would 
naturally  consolidate  themselves  into  a  nation.  Thus  consolidated, 
possessing  a  soil  of  unequalled  fertility,  they  perfected  and  main- 
tained Egypt  as  the  great  state  of  its  time,  for  a  period  of  several 
thousand  years.  During  this  period  they  first  conquered  and  then 
mingled  their  blood  with  the  African  tribes  of  Ethiopia,  now  Nubia 
and  Libya.  From  this  mixture  probably  descended  the  Copts,  an 
inferior  race  during  the  glory  of  Egypt,  but  who  nevertheless 
adhered  longer  to  its  religion  and  arts  than  any  other  part  of  the 
population. 

It  is  much  easier  to  see  how  the  Egyptian  nation  perished  than 
how  it  originated.     They  perfected  their  work  ;  they  produced  a 


FOSSIL  EGYPT,  5Y7 

religion  which  in  all  ages  seems  to  have  been  the  first  need  of  man- 
kind, a  state  which  was  the  second,  science  the  third,  and  had  com- 
merce, literature,  and  arts,  adequate  to  their  own  wants,  if  they 
had  remained  isolated.  But,  by  the  time  this  was  done,  Assyria, 
Persia,  Syria,  including  Phoenicia,  and  especially  Greece,  liad 
pushed  inquiry  further,  and  had  reached  much  higher  results. 
They  established  religions,  states,  commerce,  and  arts,  which,  al- 
though in  modern  times  they  have  all  been  found  imperfect,  were 
nevertheless  more  solid  and  efiective  than  those  of  the  Egyptians. 
The  Egyptian  system  came  into  conflict  successively  with  those  new 
and  better  ones.  The  work  of  destruction  which  the  Assyrians 
and  Persians  began  was  not  stayed  by  their  Greek  and  Roman  suc- 
cessors, and  the  Mohammedan  invaders  in  the  seventh  and  eighth 
centuries,  with  their  policy  of  conquest  and  propagandism  by  the 
sword,  completed  the  ruin  of  Egypt  by  a  work  of  unsparing  deso- 
lation. 

If  there  is  any  one  fact  in  natural  science  that  seems  to  us  more 
mysterious  than  another,  it  is  that  on  some  mountain-top,  or  in  some 
remote  valley  far  away  from  and  far  above  the  everlasting  ocean, 
we  pick  up  a  slate-stone  in  our  path,  and,  breaking  it,  we  find 
within  the  distinct  fossil  imprint  of  a  shell-fish  of  a  species  un- 
known, or  perhaps  extinct.  It  is  just  so  with  ancient  Egypt ;  it 
had  a  civilization  which  seems  to  have  had  no  prototype,  and  can 
have  no  reproduction. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

JERUSALEM. 

A  Levantine  Coasting-Steamer. — The  Green  Fields  of  Sharon. — Jaffa. — Ramleh. — Lydda. 
— Rural  Population. — First  View  of  Jerusalem. — Mr.  Seward's  Reception. — The 
Sultan's  Firman. — Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. — Religious  Intolerance, — Mount 
Calvary.— The  Via  Dolorosa. — The  Mosque  of  Omar. — The  Mosque  El-Aksa. 

Jqfa,  June  8th. — The  eleventh  month  of  our  voyage  of  circum- 
navigation opens  upon  us  in  Palestine.  A  Levantine  coasting- 
steamer  presents  us  with  another  peculiar  phase  of  travel.  Except 
our  party,  there  are  neither  Americans,  nor  English,  nor  Europeans. 
All  are  natives  of  the  towns  of  Syria,  Palestine,  the  Greek  islands, 
and  Asia  Minor.  They  are,  in  fact,  a  reproduction  of  the  hetero- 
geneous multitude  whom  Peter  addressed  at  Jerusalem  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost,  as  far  as  the  classifications  of  modern  geography  will 
allow : 

"  Parthians,  and  Modes,  and  Elamites,  and  the  dwellers  in  Meso- 
potamia, and  in  Judea,  and  Cappadocia,  in  Pontus,  and  Asia,  Phry- 
gia,  and  Pamphylia,  in  Egypt,  and  in  the  parts  of  Libya  about  Gy- 
rene, and  strangers  of  Rome,  Jews  and  proselytes,  Gretes  and  Ara- 
bians." 

After  being  dazzled  almost  to  blindness  by  the  reflection  of  a 
tropical  sunlight  from  the  glaring  sand  of  the  desert,  it  is  gratefully 
refreshing  to  look  out  upon  the  green  fields  of  Sharon.  Mr.  Sew- 
ard, who  sojourned  here  a  week  under  quarantine  in  1859,  indicated 
from  the  deck  the  convent  made  forever  historical  by  Bonaparte's 


Iliiilliiilitiiiiiliiiilliilllliiiliiililiilii 


JAFFA   AND  RAMLEH.  5T9 

alleged  poisoning  of  his  sick  and  disabled  soldiers  to  prevent  their 
falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Turks.  He  pointed  out  also  the  house 
and  grounds  which  are  shown  to  travellers  as  the  house  of  Simon 
the  tanner,  and  a  rock  into  which  has  been  inserted  a  large  ring, 
asserted  to  have  been  used  for  two  very  different  purposes :  the 
one  for  chaining  Andromeda,  and  the  other  for  holding  IN^oah's 
Ark  in  its  place  until  he  was  ready  to  embark  on  his  extraordinary 
cruise. 

Jaffa,  though  not  after  the  European  taste,  is,  nevertheless,  a 
handsome  town,  covering  a  rocky  cliff,  and  overhanging  the  sea. 
We  cast  anchor  half  a  mile  from  shore,  for  there  is  no  harbor,  and 
our  eyes  were  immediately  greeted  with  a  sight  of  the  "  stars  and 
stripes  "  floating  over  a  beautiful  green  suburb,  two  miles  outside 
the  walls  of  Jaffa,  and  our  ears  with  the  intelligence  that  it  was  the 
"  American  colony."  A  boat  came  promptly  off  the  shore  and  put 
on  deck  Mr.  Benjamin  Finkelstein,  an  attache  of  the  consulate  at 
Jerusalem,  who  delivered  to  Mr.  Seward  a  congratulatory  letter 
from  Mr.  Beardsley,  the  consul  there.  Mr.  Finkelstein  was  accom- 
panied by  his  own  cavass,  and  also  by  an  aide  of  the  Turkish  gov- 
ernor of  Jaffa.  Although  the  breakers  were  running  high,  we 
were  transferred  without  danger  or  inconvenience  on  board  a  na- 
tive surf-boat,  and  with  much  skill  buoyantly  carried  over  a  rolling 
sea  near  the  shelving  beach  of  the  American  colony.  Here  the 
boatmen  carried  us  severally  on  their  shoulders,  and  our  feet  were 
safely  planted  on  the  Syrian  shore.  Detachments  of  Turkish  cav- 
alry and  infantry  received  Mr.  Seward,  as  a  guest  of  the  Turkish 
Government,  with  martial  music  and  military  honors.  Forming 
an  escort,  they  conducted  us,  through  orange-orchards  hedged  with 
cactus,  to  the  centre  of  the  so-called  American  settlement. 

Ramleh,  June  %th. — Our  progress,  in  ascending  to  Jerusalem, 
was  in  manner  very  like  to  that  in  which  we  ascended  from  Peking 
to  the  Great  Wall  of  China.  It  was  conducted  by  Betts  Bey,  of  the 
civil  service  of  the  Khedive  of  Egypt,  assisted  by  Mr.  Finkelstein, 
and  their  authority  was  supported  by  the  cavass  of  the  United 
States  consulate  at  Jerusalem,  dressed  in  the  most  elaborate  and 


580  EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 

extravagant  Turkish  uniform,  armed  with  a  silver  staff,  like  that  of 
a  drum-major,  three  cimeters,  and  pistols  innumerable,  of  various 
sizes,  in  belt  and  saddle-bow.  Each  beast  was  attended  by  a  driver 
and  a  leader.  The  governor,  with  a  large  mounted  escort,  which 
he  called  a  "  guard  of  honor,"  attended  us  through  the  streets,  out 
of  the  gates,  and  through  the  orange-groves  of  the  suburbs  to  the 
wells  of  Yasur,  on  the  open  plain  of  Sharon.  At  this  place,  the 
governor  and  his  troops  took  their  leave,  a  smaller  mounted  guard 
taking  its  place,  and  we  proceeded  to  Ramleh. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  ride,  our  guides  pointed  out  on  our  left 
Lydda,  which,  although  the  Greeks  tried  to  christen  it  Diospolis, 
has  retained  its  name  and  identity  through  all  revolutionary  changes, 
from  the  time  when  "  Peter  came  down  also  to  the  saints  which 
dwelt  in  Lydda,  forasmuch  as  Lydda  was  nigh  to  Joppa,"  and 
"  found  a  certain  man  named  ^neas,  which  had  kept  his  bed  eight 
years,  and  was  sick  of  the  palsy.  And  Peter  said  unto  him,  ^neas, 
Jesus  Christ  maketh  thee  whole :  arise  and  make  thy  bed.  And 
he  arose  immediately." 

Arriving  at  Ramleh  at  eight  o'clock,  or  just  at  dark,  Mr.  Seward 
was  received  by  the  governor  of  that  town,  with  a  guard  of  honor, 
and,  having  designated  a  Latin  convent  as  the  lodging  he  preferred, 
was  graciously  introduced  by  the  governor  to  the  Franciscan 
superior  of  the  house.  We  were  very  weary.  One  of  the  brothers 
with  much  alacrity  showed  us  to  clean,  comfortable  rooms,  and 
spread  a  generous  supper.  The  superior,  a  handsome,  educated 
Spaniard,  manifestly  uninformed  of  the  political  occurrences  of  the 
day,  conversed  with  us  at  table,  and  expressed  a  hope  that  the 
luxuries  which  were  prepared  for  us  were  satisfactory,  but  declined 
to  participate,  because  they  are  forbidden  to  him.  Such  monasteries 
as  this  are  found  dispersed  throughout  the  Holy  Land.  They  were 
founded  at  an  early  date  by  Christian  charities  in  Europe,  to 
afford  shelter  and  comfort  to  the  pilgrims  of  the  West.  Being 
endowed  with  lands,  and  conducted  with  great  frugality,  the  com- 
munities are  now  self-sustaining.  There  being  no  good  public 
inns  in  the  country,  these  monasteries  entertain  travellers  in  a 
simple  and  comfortable  manner,  and  receive,  when  the  traveller 


< 
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a: 
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o 

X 
D 
O 


JERUSALEM.  581 

leaves,  such  gratuity  as  he  pleases  to  give,  although  they  make  no 
demand.  Travellers  generally  pay  very  cheerfully  to  the  superior, 
for  the  use  of  the  convent,  a  sum  not  less  than  similar  entertain- 
ment would  cost  at  a  hotel. 

JerusaVem,  June  lOth. — We  rose  with  the  dawn  this  morning, 
and,  having  received  coffee  and  a  blessing  from  our  kind  entertain- 
ers at  the  monastery,  we  walked,  with  the  aid  of  guides,  through 
the  few  quiet  streets  of  Ramleh.  It  seems  that  it  is  an  achieve- 
ment of  more  than  five  thousand  years  for  the  human  race  to 
attain  a  state  of  society  in  which  those  who  cultivate  the  land  can 
dwell  in  safety  and  comfort,  in  rural  localities.  It  is  really  only  in 
England  and  in  the  United  States  that  this  stage  of  society  has 
been  reached,  and  much  less  perfectly  in  England  than  in  the 
United  States.  In  whatever  country  we  have  been,  we  have  seen 
solitude  in  the  rural  districts,  the  farm-house  unknown,  the  proprie- 
tor residing  for  security  in  some  neighboring  hamlet,  village,  or 
city,  and  the  laborers  clustering  around  him  there.  Mr.  Seward 
savs  he  found  the  case  the  same  in  Mexico,  with  six  millions  of  In- 
dians  in  that  country,  cultivating  the  richest  soil  and  enjoying  the 
most  benign  skies  in  the  world,  but  dwelling  in  mean,  shabby 
towns.  And,  even  among  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  Northwest, 
families  who  live  by  the  chase  and  by  the  fisheries  shrink  from 
living  alone.  It  is  strikingly  so  in  Palestine.  It  seems  to  have 
known  no  peace  and  no  rest,  at  least  since  the  time  of  Solomon. 

No  view  is  more  unique  than  that  of  Jerusalem  as  you  approach 
it  from  the  west.  You  look  not  so  much  at  it  as  into  it  and  over 
it.  Though  situated  on  a  mountain-top,  it  is  surrounded  by  loftier 
mountains  :  on  your  right,  the  mountains  of  Judea,  on  which  you 
stand  ;  on  your  left,  the  Mount  of  Olives  ;  and,  far  beyond,  the 
mountain-desert,  at  the  foot  of  which  the  Jordan  makes  its  hurried 
way  to  the  Dead  Sea.  Our  first  surprise  was  that  so  famous  a  city 
should  be  so  small.  But  this  diminutiveness  is  itself  a  charm.  You 
see  in  its  entire  circuit  the  lofty  wall,  with  its  beautiful  parapets. 
Within  the  wall,  clustering,  but  not  crowded,  you  see,  without 
shade  or  variation,  the  white  roofs,  balustrades,  domes,  and  minarets 

44 


582  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

of  lofty  palaces,  and  majestic  churches  and  mosques.  Though  not 
especially  conversant  with  the  modern  history  and  geography  of 
the  city,  we  had  no  difficulty  in  distinguishing  the  recently-renewed 
and  magnificent  dome  which  protects  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  We 
also  recognized,  by  its  situation  and  its  gorgeous  though  faded 
dome,  the  Mosque  of  Omar,  which  now  crowns  Mount  Moriali, 
and  stands  upon  the  site  of  the  ancient  Temple  of  Solomon.  If 
one  knew  no  more  of  the  Gospel  than  what  he  recalls  of  childhood's 
lessons,  he  could  not  mistake  either  the  Plain  of  Bethlehem  or  the 
Mount  of  Olives.  Nor  would  he  mistake  the  significance  of  that 
solitary  clump  of  olive  and  cypress  trees,  which,  at  the  foot  of  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  overhangs  a  long,  low  ravine  which  divides  Mount 
Zion  from  the  Mount  of  Olives.  That  ravine  is  the  Valley  of 
Jehoshaphat,  and  that  cloister  of  solemn  shade  is  Gethsemane.  For- 
getting for  the  moment  the  devastations  of  the  Turks,  the  Cru- 
saders, the  Saracens,  the  Romans,  the  Greeks,  the  Persians,  the 
Babylonians,  and  the  Egyptians,  you  accept  this  little  Turkish  town 
as  the  city  which  was  built  and  adorned  by  Solomon,  and  as  a  perfect 
embodiment  of  the  devotional  idea  of  our  faith,  and  do  not  wonder 
that,  completed  so  long  ago,  it  has  been  left  to  stand  unchanged, 
unshaken,  and  alone,  for  the  admiration  and  reverence  of  ages. 
Indulging  in  this  reverie,  we  were  roused,  as  we  descended  the 
now  gentle  and  easy  road  toward  the  city,  by  the  piercing  strains 
of  the  shrill,  exciting,  Turkish  martial  music,  which  announced 
that  military  honors  of  no  common  significance  awaited  Mr.  Sew- 
ard's coming.  On  the  last  of  the  mountain-plains  was  extended  a 
marquee,  over  which  floated  the  blood-red  banner  of  the  Crescent. 
The  avenue  leading  to  it  was  guarded  by  a  battalion  of  infantry 
and  a  cavalry  squadron.  Mr.  Seward  alighted  here,  and,  the  droop- 
ing animals  being  dismissed,  he  was  conducted  up  the  avenue  under 
a  salute  of  the  troops  and  the  stirring  music  of  the  band  to  the 
marquee,  where  the  Pacha  of  Jerusalem,  attended  by  the  muni- 
cipal and  other  public  ofiicers,  received  him  as  a  distinguished 
stranger  and  a  guest  of  the  Turkish  Empire.  Here  again  was  an 
entertainment  just  as  profuse  as  if  we  had  not  partaken  of  refresh- 
ments on  the  other  side  of  the  mountain  an  hour  before.     Never- 


MOUNT  ZION.  583 

theless,  Moclia  coffee,  as  prepared  by  Arab  hands,  is  always  ac- 
ceptable. And  now  occurred  the  first  secession  which  our  party 
has  undergone  in  its  long  and  interesting  journey.  The  ladies 
could  endure  no  more  of  receptions  or  of  fiuigue.  Taking  Betts 
Bey  for  their  guide,  they  set  out  on  foot  to  make  their  way  into  the 
city  in  advance  of  the  procession,  which  they  saw  was  inevitable. 

Jerusalem  has  seen  many  striking  pageants,  but  certainly,  in 
modern  times,  none  so  singular  as  this  reception  of  a  private  Ameri- 
can citizen  with  the  military  pomp  and  imperial  parade  accorded 
before  only  to  conquerors  and  kings.  As  we  descended  the  hill 
we  passed  before  the  Roman  church,  monastery,  school,  and  con- 
sulate, and  then,  from  the  noble  bridge  which  spans  the  ravine, 
looked  up  at  the  fine  colonnade  of  the  Jewish  Asylum  lately  built 
by  the  Rothschilds,  and  at  last  stood  on  the  sacred  Mountain  of 
Zion.  The  Jaffa  G.ate  is  not  the  widest  in  the  world,  nor  is  Chris- 
tian Street  the  broadest  and  best-paved  avenue,  although  it  leads 
directly  over  Mount  Zion.  Happily,  in  view  of  this  ceremony,  the 
Government  had  caused  the  street  to  be  cleared  of  its  customary 
groups  of  camels,  horses,  and  donkeys.  In  a  word,  the  Jerusalem 
which  was  so  beautiful  seen  in  the  softening  light  of  the  setting 
sun  from  the  summit  of  the  mountains  of  Judea,  shrunk  to  a  vulgar 
Turkish  town  the  moment  we  entered  it.  With  the  best  speed  the 
ladies  could  make,  the  strange  and  wild  procession  overtook  them, 
obliging  them  to  take  shelter  in  such  door-waj^s  or  booths  as 
opened  to  them.  The  people  of  Jerusalem,  more  accustomed  to 
seeing  sad  pilgrim  bands  and  caravans  from  the  desert  than  official 
pageants,  were  in  the  narrow  street  on  this  occasion,  a  heteroge- 
neous mass — Turks  and  Christians,  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  men, 
women,  and  children,  monks  and  Sisters  of  Charity,  publicans  and 
sinners. 

Somehow  we  shall  never  be  able  to  recall  how  we  made  our  way 
through  this  motley  crowd  to  a  gate  by  the  way-side,  on  which  a 
modest  sign-board  advertised  "  Mediterranean  Hotel."  Our  party, 
reunited,  was  conducted  up  two  flights  of  narrow,  steep  stairs  to 
the  house-top,  where  we  sat  down,  having  in  full  view,  on  our  left, 
the  dome  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  ;  on  our  right  the 


584 


EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 


Mosque  of  Omar ;  and,  at  our  feet,  tlie  crystal  pool  of  Hezekiah, 
which  is  supplied  from  the  "  Wells  of  Solomon."  Here  the  pacha 
and  his  suite,  the  consul  and  cavass,  and  "  all  others  in  authority," 
after  renewed  assurances  of  kindness  and  hospitality,  took  their 
leave,  and  we  repaired  to  adjoining  chambers,  Avhich,  though  neither 
spacious  nor  pretentious,  were  spotlessly  clean,  and  in  every  w\ay 
comfortable. 

To  explain  this  brilliant  reception  by  the  authorities  of  Jerusa- 
lem, we  may  as  well  insert  here  the  firman  issued  by  the  Turkish 
Government,  announcing  Mr.  Seward  as  the  national  guest,  and 
instructing  all  public  officers  to  extend  to  him  their  courtesy  and 
protection.     The  document   is   beautifully   engrossed   in    Turkish 


characters,  on  a  great  sheet  of  parchment,  surmounted  by  the  Sal- 
tan's toogra  or  monogram.  Mr.  Brown,  our  charge  d'affaires  at 
Constantinople,  made  a  translation  of  it  for  us  as  follows  : 

"  His  Imperial  Majesty,  Sultan  Abd-ul-Aziz  Khan,  son  of  Sul- 
tan Mahmoud  Khan,  may  his  victories  be  perpetuated  ! 

"  To  my  noble  vizier — my  glorious  councillor,  who  administers 
the  aifairs  of  the  people  confided  to  his  care,  with  great  justice  and 
equity — who  strengthens  and  consolidates  the  edifice  of  the  empire 
and  public  weal,  with  much  zeal  and  ability — who  is  one  of  the 
faithful  ministers  of  my  Government,  and  who  by  his  convictions 
has  merited  the  favor  of  the  Most  High,  possessor  of  all  things : 
the  halee  or  governor-general  of  my  province  of  Soria  (Syria)  the 


X 

<: 

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N 

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X 

u. 
0 

J 
o 

0 

a. 


CHURCH   OF   THE   HOLY   SEPULCHRE.  585 

possessor  of  my  noble  decoration  of  the  majidieli  of  the  first  class, 
Rechid  Pacha,  may  his  glory  be  increased !  be  it  known  : 

"  That  the  bearer  of  the  present  royal  and  sovereign  document 
is  the  Honorable  William  H.  Seward,  formerly  the  chief  minister 
of  the  Government  of  the  Republic  of  the  United  States  of  North 
America,  who,  with  his  companions,  is  visiting,  for  the  purposes  of 
travel,  my  province  of  Soria — and  that  it  is  my  sovereign  will  that 
you,  who  are  the  balee  of  the  same,  consider  him  as  my  honored 
and  distinguished  guest. 

"  That  you  treat  him  with  every  demonstration  of  honor  and 
respect,  and  see  that,  wherever  he  may  be  pleased  to  go,  he  be 
shown  hospitality.  It  is  my  royal  pleasure  that  he  be  everywhere 
known  as  the  guest  of  my  Government,  and  treated  accordingly. 
Let  all  measures  be  taken  for  his  comfort  and  protection,  and  per- 
mit nothing  to  occur  contrary  to  the  present  commands. 

"  This  know,  and  hasten  to  carry  my  sovereign  will  into  exe- 
cution. 

"  Written,  the  15th  day  of  the  Moon  of  Rejeb  the  Unique,  of 
the  year  of  the  Hedjera,  1287"  (20th  September,  1870). 

Smidaij,  June  11th. — Worship  at  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sep- 
ulchre— the  only  Sunday  that  we  are  to  enjoy  in  Jerusalem — could 
not  be  neglected.  But  the  hours  of  worship  in  the  East  are  6arly. 
At  six  o'clock,  with  such  strength  as  onr  night's  rest  had  given  us, 
we  repaired  there  by  rough,  steep,  and  winding  streets.  A  small, 
open,  paved  square  lies  in  front  of  the  church,  into  which  we  de- 
scended by  a  flight  of  worn  stone  steps.  The  area  was  thronged 
with  a  varied  crowd  from  many  countries.  There  were  Syrians, 
Greeks,  Armenians,  Copts,  Abyssinians,  and  Turks,  as  well  as  Eng- 
lish, French,  Germans,  Russians,  Americans,  and  Italians — men  of 
all  nationalities,  indeed,  except  Jews.  Christians  from  Bethlehem 
and  Hebron  were  busy  in  selling  small,  cheap  relics  and  amulets 
among  the  mass,  many  of  whom  seemed  very  poor,  and  no  small 
portion  mendicants.  How  unreasoning  is  religious  intolerance ! 
The  Christian  nations  of  Europe  have  succeeded  in  exacting  and 
obtaining  from  the  Turkish  Government  at  Constantinople  the  full 


586 


EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 


exercise  of  religious  worship  of  every  form  in  tlie  Cliurcli  of  the 
Holj  Sepulchre.  All  nations  are  invited  to  it,  save  only  the  Jews, 
whom  Turks  and  Christians  unite  in  excluding  from  even  its  vesti- 
bule. Mr.  Seward  could  not  believe  this  until  he  found  that  one  of 
the  bearers  of  his  chair  had  to  be  replaced  because  he  was  a  Jew, 

The  Greek,  Latin,  Armenian,  and  Coptic  sects  celebrate  public 
worship  in  the  church  at  different  hours  of  the  day.  It  will  not 
seem  strange  that  we  passed  the  great  mass,  to  go  directly  to  the 
Holy  Sepulchre.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  "  new  tomb  "  of  Jo- 
seph of  Arimathea,  in  which  the  Saviour  reposed  for  three  days 
after  his  crucifixion,  is  somewhere  in  this  mountain.     It  is  unrea- 


DO:tI£   OF  THE   CHITKCH   OF  THE   HOLY   SEPULCHEE. 


sonable  to  suppose,  in  view  of  the  circumstances  which  attended 
the  early  Church,  that  it  can  now  be  identified.  The  pious  Chris- 
tians of  the  fourth  century,  however,  thought  they  found  it  here, 


"CHAPEL  OF   THE  ANGEL."  587 

and  Christians  of  every  age  till  this  have  accepted  it.  Why  should 
we  not  be  content  to  do  so,  since  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  any  other  place  more  authentic  can  now  be  found  ?  AVe, 
therefore,  shut  out  from  our  minds  all  distrust.  The  Holy  Sepul- 
chre is  under  the  centre  of  the  great  dome,  or,  to  speak  more  ac- 
curately, the  great  dome  of  the  church  has  been  erected  directly 
over  the  sepulchre  indicated  to  the  Empress  Helena.  The  Holy 
Sepulchre  is  a  white-marble  sarcophagus.  It  is  not,  of  course,  pre- 
tended or  supposed  that  the  holy  grave  was  found  in  this  shape, 
but,  with  the  decency  which  religious  worship  always  requires,  the 
marble  case  was  built  over  the  rock-hewn  tomb.  A  small  orna- 
mental structure  of  marble,  with  pillars  and  pilasters,  and  sur- 
mounted by  a  crown-shaped  dome  and  cross,  stands  over  the  sep- 
ulchre, and  constitutes  a  kind  of  chapel  or  temple.  This  diminutive 
structure  is  divided  into  two  compartments.  The  outer  chamber  is 
called  the  "  Chapel  of  the  Angel,"  it  being  the  pleasure  of  the  devo- 
tees to  believe  that  on  the  spot  enclosed  within  it,  and  at  the  head 
of  the  grave,  the  angel  stood  when  he  said  to  Mary  Magdalene  and 
the  other  Mary,  "  Fear  not  ye  :  for  I  know  that  ye  seek  Jesus, 
which  was  crucified.  He  is  not  here  :  for  he  is  risen,  as  he  said. 
Come,  see  the  place  where  the  Lord  lay." 

In  the  centre  of  this  tiny  chapel,  raised  on  a  pedestal,  is  a  stone, 
which  is  claimed  to  be  a  fragment  of  the  identical  one  upon  which 
the  angel  sat.  The  chapel  is  capable  of  receiving  only  one  or  two 
visitors  at  any  one  time.  At  the  eastern  side  is  a  small  door,  made 
low,  so  as  to  require  the  visitor  to  stoop  as  he  enters.  This  harmo- 
nizes with  St.  John's  account :  "  And  as  she  wept,  she  stooped 
down,  and  looked  into  the  sepulchre."  Unhappily,  however,  for 
the  indulgence  of  self-delusion,  the  churches  have  suspended,  from 
the  low  ceiling  in  this  narrow  chamber,  forty-three  lamps  of  gold 
and  silver,  which  are  kept  always  burning  by  day  and  by  night. 
Their  dazzling  glare,  together  with  the  strong  perfume  of  spices 
and  frankincense  and  attar  of  roses,  is  so  incongruous  with  the 
natural  condition  of  the  sepulchre,  that  they  bewilder  instead  of 
aiding  the  pilgrim  in  his  pious  desire  to  realize  the  "  place  where 
the  Lord  lay."     As  we  reached  the  door,  two  poor  Russian  women 


588  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

came  out,  and  this  made  way  for  us.  We  stooped  and  entered. 
The  marble  slab,  which  covers  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  was  bedewed 
with  tears — probably  it  is  always  so,  although  it  is  continually  puri- 
fied with  rose-water.  A  placid-faced  monk  stood  near  to  perform 
this  grateful  office,  and  to  ofler  flowers  and  other  sacred  mementos 
to  the  pilgrims.  Notwithstanding  the  many  provocations  to  doubt, 
it  may  well  be  believed  that  no  one  ever  stands  over  that  broken 
and  worn  marble  slab  unmoved.  We  gave  place,  in  our  turn,  to 
devout  and  meek  Armenians. 

We  could  now  study  what  remains  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  with  free  and  inquiring  minds.  We  entered  the  choir 
of  the  church  when  the  Greek  bishop  and  priests  were  concluding  a 
solemn  mass.  We  need  hardly  say  that  services  dift'ering  so  en- 
tirely from  our  form  of  worship  seemed  cold,  formal,  and  theatrical. 
When  the  services  ended,  the  bishop  and  his  numerous  assistant 
priests  withdrew  in  solemn  procession,  leaving  the  congregation  to 
retire  at  pleasure.  We  need  not  perhaps  raise  a  question  here  on 
this  subject.  Mj^sterious  dogmas  and  ecclesiastical  forms  were 
eff'ective,  perhaps  they  were  necessary,  for  the  conversion  of  the 
pagan  nations.  And  they  are  not  useless  in  supporting  and 
keeping  alive  docile  and  patient  faith.  But  their  day  has  culmi- 
nated ;  henceforth,  more  spiritual  teaching  will  be  employed,  and 
we  shall  be  called  on  to  try  whether  the  requisite  standard  of  faith 
can  be  maintained  under  a  system  of  free,  unregulated,  and  unbri- 
dled religious  inquiry  for  religious  truth.  It  suits  us  better  as  trav- 
ellers to  study  past  ideas,  as  they  are  embodied  in  architecture  and 
in  art.  This  Greek  choir  is  spacious,  lofty,  and  elaborately  adorned 
with  painting,  statuary,  and  gilding.  Our  guides  now  proposed  to 
show  us,  not  only  the  Mount  of  Calvary,  but  the  very  place  of  the 
crucifixion,  which  is  also  under  the  dome  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 
To  say  sooth,  our  imaginations  required  a  more  ample  space  for  the 
diff"erent  parts  of  the  most  stupendous  and  awful  drama  ever 
enacted.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  our  faith  in  traditions 
grew  weaker  as  we  climbed  the  steep  flight  of  eighteen  stone  steps 
to  reach  the  summit  of  Calvary,  under  this  dome,  and  at  less  than 
a  stone's  throw  from  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 


CALVARY.  589 

Calvary,  if  this  is  that  mountain  of  terror  and  sadness,  is  a  light 
and  cheerful,  well-paved  chapel,  twenty  feet  square,  raised  fifteen 
feet  above  the  church  floor.  Here  an  attending  priest  lifts  a  cor- 
ner of  the  marble  pavement,  and  discloses  three  sockets,  drilled  in 
the  rock,  at  a  distance  of  six  feet  from  each  other ;  and  all  who  can 
may  believe  what  he  says,  that  the  central  one  received  the  foot  of 
the  Saviour's  cross,  and  the  other  two  the  crosses  of  the  malefac- 
tors who  were  crucified  with  him.  Over  this  slab  is  erected  an 
altar  garnished  with  a  profusion  of  jewelled  ornaments  and  tapestry. 
All  skepticism  is  expected  to  be  put  to  flight  when,  underneath  the 
altar,  the  marble  veneering  is  removed  and  a  naked  rock  is  shown, 
with  a  large,  irregular  fissure  in  its  face,  which,  we  are  told,  was 
effected  at  that  fearful  moment  when  "  the  veil  of  the  temple  was 
rent  in  twain  from  the  top  to  the  bottom ;  and  the  earth  did  quake, 
and  the  rocks  rent ;  and  the  graves  were  opened ;  and  many  bodies 
of  the  saints  which  slept  arose." 

The  trial  of  faith  steadily  increases  as  we  continue  the  appointed 
exploration.  It  has  a  locality,  not  merely  for  each  grand  part  of 
the  mighty  transaction  which  it  commemorates,  but  even  for  every 
incident  connected  with  it,  though  too  minute  for  memory  or  his- 
tory. A  tablet  at  the  foot  of  the  Chapel  of  Calvary  records  that 
here  "the  mother  of  Jesus  stood,"  a  witness  of  his  agony.  An- 
other advises  you  of  the  spot  where  the  body  lay  when  taken  down 
from  the  cross.  Another,  where  it  was  washed  and  swathed  for 
interment.  Another,  a  place  where  the  three  Marys  gathered  for 
mutual  condolence.  After  completing  this  survey,  we  descended 
to  the  dark  cavern  underneath  the  pavement  of  the  church,  and  at 
the  base  of  Calvary,  in  which  St.  Helena,  in  the  fifth  century,  dis- 
covered the  three  crosses,  still  in  a  state  of  preservation. 

AVe  returned  to  our  hotel  through  several  streets,  which,  from 
their  continuity,  have  acquired  the  name  of  the  "  Via  Dolorosa," 
being  the  path  the  Saviour  trod  on  the  way  from  the  palace  of 
Pilate  to  the  place  of  crucifixion.  Tradition  has  been  no  less  busy 
here.  At  the  foot  of  this  staircase,  the  Saviour,  sinking  under  the 
weight  of  his  cross,  impressed  his  Divine  face  upon  the  handkerchief 
of  St.  Veronica,  now  seen  in  St.  Peter's  at  Rome.     Here  in  this  bad- 


590  EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 

cony,  built  over  the  street,  the  remorse-struck  governor  exhibited 
Jesus  to  the  maddened  mob,  with  the  memorable  words  "  Ecce 
Homo,"  and  this  lofty  structure,  certainly  not  unworthy  to  be  the 
residence  of  a  Roman  jDroeonsul,  was  the  palace  of  Pontius  Pilate, 
where  the  Saviour  was  arraigned  and  condemned.  Here,  a  repaired 
breach  in  the  wall  indicates  the  staircase  by  which  the  Saviour 
ascended  to  the  palace  on  that  day.  The  staircase  itself  has  been 
removed  to  Rome  for  many  centuries,  and  is  there  exhibited  in  the 
Church  of  St.  John  Lateran,  and  is  familiarly  known  to  all  travel- 
lers as  the  Scala  Santa.  It  is  impossible  to  accept  the  authenticity 
of  the  "  Via'  Dolorosa."  Constantinoj)le,  Rome,  London,  Paris, 
and  every  other  capital  of  Europe,  have  undergone  fewer  sackings, 
sieges,  and  burnings,  than  Jerusalem.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
identify  any  street  in  any  city  after  the  changes  and  accidents 
which  time  has  wrought  in  a  thousand  years.  It  is  a  striking  com- 
mentary upon  the  whole  legend,  that  the  house  of  Dives,  as  well  as 
the  house  of  Lazarus,  is  pointed  out  in  the  "Way  of  Sorrow," 
with  the  same  confidence  as  the  Judgment-Hall  of  Pilate. 

Yussef  Effendi,  with  the  brother  and  secretary  of  the  pacha, 
attended  us  to  the  Mosque  of  Omar.  It  is  only  within  the  last  five 
years  that  this  mosque,  scarcely  less  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  Mussul- 
mans than  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchure  is  in  ours,  has  been 
opened  to  Christian  travellers.  Even  now  a  careful,  though  some- 
what disguised  surveillance,  is  practised  over  them.  The  mosque 
stands  in  an  area  enclosed  with  a  high,  parapeted  wall,  overlooking 
the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  and  confronting  the  Mount  of  Olives. 
This  occupies  one-sixth  of  the  land  of  the  entire  city.  On  the  east- 
ern side  of  this  wall  is  a  gate-way,  built  of  marble,  called  by  the 
Mussulmans  the  "  Golden  Gate,"  which  they  are  fond  of  represent- 
ing as  the  "  gate  of  the  temple  called  Beautiful,"  but  its  modern 
architecture  does  not  support  that  claim.  It  is  only  interesting 
from  the  tradition  that  it  was  closed  with  the  Roman  conquest,  and 
has  never  been  reopened.  The  so-called  Mosque  of  Omar  is  not 
single.  It  consists  of  two  distinct  mosques,  placed  at  some  distance 
from  each  other — the  one  here  named  Kubbet-es-Suhkrah,  or  "  the 
Dome  of  the  Rock,"  commonly  called  the  Mosque  of  Omar,  and 


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THE   MOSQUE   OF   OMAK. 


591 


the  Mosque-el-Aksa.  Though  differing  entirely  from  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  the  Mosque  of  Omar  is  not  less  unique  and 
peculiar  in  its  consecrated  antiquities.     Twelve  hundred  years  ago, 


MOSQTTE   OF   OMAR. 


on  the  surrender  of  the  Greek  Patriarch,  the  Caliph  Omar  de- 
manded to  be  shown  the  site  of  the  Jewish  Temple.  He  was  taken 
to  the  sacred  rock,  he  knelt  and  prayed  over  it,  and  he  built  over  it 
a  mosque,  which, .with  subsequent  repairs,  is  the  present  "  Dome  of 
the  Rock,"  or  Mosque  of  Omar.  In  architectural  design  and  execu- 
tion it  rivals  the  finest  in  Cairo  and  Constantinople.  Antedating 
the  conquest  of  the  Mussulmans  in  India,  it  has  an  elaborateness  of 
embellishment,  perhaps  resulting  from  the  influence  of  Greek  and 
Roman  art,  which  distinguishes  this  and  the  other  religious  struct- 
ures of  modern  Asia  from  the  more  severe,  simple,  and  effective 
style  of  the  mosques  of  Agra  and  Delhi.  One  would  say,  in  compar- 
ing the  two  styles,  that  the  Mosque  of  Omar  has  borrowed  from  the 
superstitions  of  the  West,  while  those  of  India  indicate  a  puritanical 
reformation.     It  is  now  sadly  out  of  repair.     Its  magnificent  gilded 

dome  is  blackened,  and  its  stained  glass  windows  arc  broken  ;  the 

45 


592  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

exquisite  Arabic  tracery  marred,  and  the  elaborately-inscribed  text? 
from  the  Koran  faded.  Like  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  it  is  replete  in 
all  parts  with  relics  and  memorials  held  sacred  by  the  Mussulman 
faith.  The  sheik  of  the  mosque  reverently  removed  for  Mr. 
Seward  the  crimson-silk  canopy  which  covers  an  irregular,  flat  lime- 
stone rock,  sixty  feet  wide  and  five  feet  high,  in  the  centre  of  the 
building,  and  encircled  by  a  high  iron  railing.  It  is  said  this  is  the 
threshing-floor  which  King  David  bought  of  Araunah,  the  Jebusite, 
as  a  site  for  an  altar  of  burnt-ofi'erings.  Modern  writers  accept  it 
as  the  altar  of  burnt-ofierings  in  the  Temple  of  Solomon.  Under- 
neath one  side  of  the  rock  is  a  vault,  which  connects  with  a  well 
under  the  centre  of  the  rock,  now  covered  with  a  marble  slab. 
This  vaulted  cavern  is  by  Christian  writers  believed  to  have  been 
the  cesspool  of  the  altar  of  burnt-oflTerings,  but  the  Mohammedane 
revere  it  as  the  place  of  prayer  of  Abraham,  David,  Solomon,  and 
Jesus  Christ.  On  either  side  of  the  door  of  the  vault  are  small 
altars,  which  the  sheik  calls  the  shrines  of  David  and  Solomon,  but 
they  bear  carvings  unmistakably  Greek.  On  another  side  the  sheik 
showed  us  an  indentation  which  was  made  by  the  foot  of  Mohammed 
when  he  sprang  from  this  rock  into  heaven,  and  also  the  imprint 
of  the  hand  of  the  angel  who  threw  the  rock  back  to  its  resting- 
place  when  it  was  rising  from  its  bed  with  the  foot  of  the  prophet ! 
Unfortunately,  the  prophet's  footprint  here  diflers  in  measurement 
from  the  footprints  which  he  left,  and  which  we  personally  saw,  in 
Egypt  and  in  India.  We  passed  over  the  neglected  court  to  the 
Mosque-el  Aksa.  It  is  said  to  occupy  the  place  and  to  retain  the 
form  of  a  Christian  church  or  basilica  which  the  Emperor  Justinian 
built  in  the  sixth  century,  in  honor  of  the  Virgin,  and  which  was 
temporarily  restored  by  the  Crusaders.  A  part  of  it  was  assigned 
as  an  encampment  for  the  military  order  then  recently  created  by 
Saint-Louis,  which  from  that  circumstance  took  the  name  of 
Knights  Templars,  and  which  was  so  active  and  powerful  through 
many  centuries. 

El-Aksa  is  indeed  a  structure  built  in  the  customary  design  of 
the  basilica.  Its  dimensions  are  two  hundred  and  seventy-two 
feet  long,  by  one  hundred  and  eighty-four  feet  wide.     It  has  seven 


•  A  RECENT  DISCOVERY.  593 

aisles,  supported  by  forty-five  columns,  of  wlilcli  thirty-tliree  are 
marble,  and  are  chiefly  of  the  Corinthian  order.  But,  what  inter- 
ested us  more  is,  a  recent  excavation  under  the  pavement  of  this 
mosque,  which  proves  to  be  an  ancient  gate.  It  has  been  closed 
and  walled  up,  while  the  city  has  been  built  around  it  on  the  out- 
side. The  massive  though  broken  floor,  the  solid  columns,  and 
the  heavy  transverse  stones  which  rest  upon  them,  are  wrought  in 
a  style  neither  Saracenic  nor  Greek,  but  shaped  and  ornamented 
in  a  manner  which  we  remarked  in  the  Egyptian  temples.  This 
newly-discovered  gate-way  is  believed,  by  the  distinguished  ex- 
plorer. Captain  Wilson,  to  have  been  one  of  the  original  entrances 
to  the  Temple  of  Solomon,  Not  only  El-Aksa,  but  the  whole  area 
enclosed  within  the  outer  walls,  now  wears  the  appearance  of  neglect, 
dilapidation,  and  decay.  Is  this  an  evidence  of  the  decline  of  the 
Mohammedan  religion,  or  only  of  the  increasing  isolation  of  Jeru- 
salem ?  We  must  go  farther  into  the  Turkish  Empire  to  decide. 
Meantime,  it  is  suggestive  of  much  thought  that  not  only  the 
Mayor  of  Jerusalem,  but  the  obliging  sheik  of  the  mosque,  plain- 
tively and  earnestly  invoked  Mr.  Seward  to  use  what  they  thought 
would  be  an  influence  of  some  weight  with  the  Sultan  at  Constan- 
tinople, for  the  repair  of  the  Mosque  of  Omar.  The  various  points 
we  have  described  in  the  Mosque  of  Omar  are  held  to  fix  beyond 
all  dispute  the  site  of  the  ancient  Temple  of  Solomon.  History', 
tradition,  and  a  pride  of  the  Jews,  greater  than  was  ever  exhibited 
by  any  other  nation,  made  that  temple  an  object  of  admiration  to 
the  whole  world.  Though  its  base  was  Mount  Moriah,  the  hill 
which  bore  that  name  must  have  been  levelled  when  or  before  the 
temple  was  built.  It  was  easily  accessible  by  a  gentle  descent  from 
nil  parts  of  the  city,  while  the  high  wall  built  on  the  outer  preci- 
pice rendered  it  impregnable  on  that  side. 


CHAPTER  X. 

JERUSALEM  AND  ITS  NEIGHBORHOOD. 

Bethlehem. — The  Grave  of  Rachel. — The  City  of  Jerusalem. — The  Mount  of  Olives. — The 
Tomb  of  Zaehariah. — The  Tomb  of  Absalom. — An  American  Jew. — Bethany. — 
Pilate's  Palace. — The  Greek  Church  in  Palestine. — The  Jews  of  Jerusalem. — Tbeii- 
Wailing-Place. — The  Jewish  Sabbath. — Attendance  at  the  Synagogue. — Bishoj) 
Gobat. — Departure  from  Jerusalem. — Jaffa  and  Beirut. 

June  12th. — "Let  us  now  go  even  unto  Betlileliem  and  see 
this  thing." 

Bethlehem  is  the  one  place  in  all  the  wide  world  which,  by  its 
memories  and  associations,  elevates  the  soul  with  emotions  un- 
mixed with  sorrow,  fear,  or  terror.  The  Christian  mind,  that  is 
not  unreasonably  exacting,  finds  in  the  surroundings  of  Bethlehem, 
the  "  city  of  David,"  all  the  confirmation  it  needs  or  expects  of  the 
Gospel  history — the  broad,  fertile  mountain-plain,  easily  watered, 
and  which,  even  now,  amid  the  general  desolation  of  the  country, 
largely  retains  its  verdure,  and  seems  a  natural  field  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  patriarchal  system.  "  In  the  way  to  Ephrath,  which  is 
Bethlehem,"  we  rested  under  the  shade  of  a  graceful  monument, 
recently  erected  by  the  believing  Eothschilds,  in  full  and  unques- 
tioning faith  that  it  covers  the  spot  where  Eachel  was  buried,  and 
upon  which  "  Jacob  set  a  pillar  upon  her  grave  :  that  is  the  pillar 
of  Eachel's  grave  unto  this  day." 

Bethlehem  is  built  on  the  side  of  a  gorge,  on  whose  declivity  run 
zigzag  paths  which  are  the  streets  of  the  village.  The  rocky  steep 
has  been  cut  perpendicularly  down,  and  pierced  with  caves,  which, 


BETHLEHEM. 


595 


with  the  addition,  where  it  is  pi*<acticable,  of  a  second  story  con- 
structed of  rude  masonry,  constitute  the  dwellings,  storehouses, 
workshops,  and  inns  of  the  village.  If  indeed  "  there  went  out  a 
decree  from  Csesar  Augustus  that  all  the  world  should  be  taxed,'' 
and  if  indeed  it  was  needful  that  the  poor  Kazarene,  Joseph,  must 
go,  out  of  the  city  of  Nazareth  into  Judea  unto  the  city  of  David, 
to  be  taxed,  with  Mary  his  espoused  wife,"  and  if  "  the  days  were 
accomplished  that  she  should  be  delivered,"  then  the  incidents  of 


BETTTLEHEM. 


the  transaction,  as  they  are  related  by  the  Evangelists,  were  not 
only  natural,  but  inevitable.  Bethlehem,  neither  more  then  than 
now,  could  have  contained  an  inn  in  which  there  could  have  been 
found  "room  for  them."  The  inn,  in  all  countries  and  down  even 
to  our  own  time,  is  historically  known  by  its  equal  provision  for 
the  entertainment  of  man  and  beast.  The  stable  and  the  manger, 
throughout  all  Asiatic  countries,  no  less  in  Palestine  than  in  China, 
are  adjuncts  in  the  entertainment  of  an  inn,  quite  equal  in  import 


596  EGYPT  AND   PAI.ESTINE. 

ance  to  the  apartments  in  which  the  traveller  of  the  better  sort 
rests,  while  the  plebeian  or  publican,  declining  that  costly  expense, 
shares  the  stable  and  the  manger  with  his  faithful  and  cherished 
irmle,  ox,  or  camel.  So  it  could  not  have  otherwise  happened  than 
that,  when  Marj  should  have  "  brought  forth  her  first-born  son," 
she  should  have  "  wrapped  him  in  swaddling-clothes,  and  laid  him 
in  a  manger ;  because  there  was  no  room  for  them  in  the  inn." 

The  inhabitants  of  Bethlehem  are  native  Christians,  who  sup- 
port themselves  by  the  fruits  which  they  sell  at  Jerusalem,  and  by 
the  manufacture  of  cheap  tokens,  ornaments,  and  amulets,  which 
pilgrims  take  home  as  mementos  of  the  Holy  Land.  Mr.  Seward 
remarks  a  visible  improvement  in  the  aspect,  not  only  of  Bethle- 
hem, but  of  the  country  about  Jerusalem,  which  has  been  made 
since  his  visit  of  1859.  Something  of  this  is  due  to  the  expendi- 
ture of  the  Greek  Christians  of  Russia  upon  a  new  and  beautiful 
church  outside  of  the  city,  but  more  is  due  to  a  small  colony  of 
Germans,  w^ho  have  become  proprietors  and  cultivators  here. 

June  \?)th. — "  Walk  about  Zion,  and  go  round  about  her :  tell 
the  towers  thereof.  Mark  ye  well  her  bulwarks,  consider  her 
palaces ;  that  ye  may  tell  it  to  the  generation  following." 

We  have  done  so,  and  we  have  found  it  neither  a  short  nor 
an  easy  promenade.  The  city  occupies  two  ridges  of  a  mountain 
promontory,  with  the  depression  or  valley  between  them.  The 
walls  of  the  modern  Turkish  city  have  been  so  contracted  with 
the  decrease  of  the  population,  as  to  exclude  large  portions  of  the 
ancient  city.  Jerusalem  is  now  divided  according  to  its  different 
classes  of  population.  The  Mohammedans  are  four  thousand, 
and  occupy  the  northeast  quarter,  including  the  whole  area  of  the 
Mosque  of  Omar.  The  Jews  are  eight  thousand,  and  have  the 
southeast  quarter.  These  two  quarters  overhang  the  Valley  of 
Jehoshaphat  and  the  brook  Kedron.  The  Armenians  number 
eighteen  hundred,  and  have  the  southwest  quarter ;  and  the  other 
Christians,  amounting  to  twenty-two  hundred,  have  the  northwest 
quarter,  which  overlooks  the  Yalley  of  Hinnom.  We  issued  from 
the  city  through  St.  Stephen's  gate,  which  stands  some  two  hundred 


THE   TOMB   OF   ABSALOM.  597 

feet  north  of  tlie  Haram,  the  area  of  the  Mosque  of  Omar.  This 
gate  is  identified,  by  tradition  only,  with  the  martyrdom  of  St. 
Stephen.  Our  sure-footed  animals  carried  us  safely  down  the 
rocky,  precipitous  road,  a  hundred  feet  to  the  brook  Kedron.  Re- 
freshing ourselves  with  the  limpid  water  from  its  pebbly  bed,  we 
climbed  the  eastern  bank  which  is  the  base  of  the  Mount  of  Olives. 
This  entire  base  is  covered  north  and  south,  as  far  as  the  eye  can 
reach,  with  the  tombs  and  slabs  of  the  Jewish  dwellers  of  the  Holy 
City.  It  has  been  always  sacred  to  the  Jews,  and  it  is  the  only 
place  where  the  past  and  present  of  that  extraordinary  people  meet. 
Here  is  a  graceful  monolith  structure  in  the  form  of  a  temple,  with 
a  pyramidal  top,  hevm  in  shape  without  being  detached  from  the 
native  rock.  You  may  have  your  choice  of  tradition  in  regard  to 
it.  The  modern  dwellers  in  Jerusalem  tell  vou  that  it  was  built  in 
honor  of  Zachariah,  concerning  whom  the  Saviour  accused  the 
Pharisees :  ''  That  upon  you  may  come  all  the  righteous  blood  shed 
upon  the  earth,  from  the  blood  of  righteous  Abel  unto  the  blood  of 
Zacharias  son  of  Barachias,  whom  ye  slew  between  the  temple  and 
the  altar."  Historical  evidence  of  an  inscription  in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury assigns  this  tomb  to  the  prophet  Josiali,  while  in  the  twelfth 
century  it  was  described  as  the  tomb  of  King  Huzziah.  To  whom- 
soever it  may  belong,  it  is  held  in  high  veneration  by  the  Jews 
throughout  the  world,  and  prayers  offered  up  in  it  are  believed  to 
be  always  answered.  The  tomb  of  Absalom,  a  monolith  cut  out  of 
the  rock,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  tomb  just  described,  with  an 
upper  story  of  masonry,  is  attractive  as  well  as  curious.  We  tried 
to  enter  it,  but  found  the  main  structure  half  filled  up  with  a  heap 
of  loose  stones.  On  making  complaint  of  this,  we  found  that  we 
were  very  unreasonable,  for  these  detached  stones  are  the  evidence 
f)f  the  genuineness  of  the  tomb. 

"  Now  Absalom  in  his  lifetime  had  taken  and  reared  up  for  him- 
self a  pillar,  which  is  in  the  king's  dale  :  for  he  said,  I  have  no  son 
to  keep  ray  name  in  remembrance :  and  he  called  the  pillar  after 
his  own  name ;  and  it  is  called  unto  this  day,  Absalom's  place." 

Tlie  Jews  have  been  in  the  habit,  as  they  passed  through  this 
burying-ground,  of  taking  up  a  stone,  and  pelting  with  it  the  monu- 


598 


EGYPT   AND   PALESTINE. 


mcnt  of  the  rebellious  son  of  David,  and  so,  in  the  lapse  of  con 
turies,  the  heap  has  accumulated  which  obstructed  our  entrance. 
Notwithstanding  all  this,  however,  there  is  a  growing  distrust  of 
the  authenticity,  though  no  one  denies  the  antiquity,  of  the  monu- 
ment. 

The  Jews  throughout  the  world,  not  merely  as  pilgrims,  but  in 
anticipation  of  death,  come  here  to  be  buried,  by  the  side  of  the 
graves  of  their  ancestors.  As  we  sat  on  the  deck  of  our  steamer, 
coming  from  Alexandria  to  Jaffa,  we  remarked  a  family  whom  we 
supposed  to  be  Germans.  It  consisted  of  a  plainly-dressed  man, 
with  a  wife  who  was  ill,  and  two  children — one  of  them  an  infant 
in  its  cradle.  The  sufferings  of  the  sick  woman,  and  her  effort  to 
•maintain  a  cheerful  hope,  interested  us.     The  husband,  seeing  this, 


addressed  us  in  English. 


Mr.  Seward  asked  if  he  were  an  English- 


MOSQITE   ON   THE   MOUNT   OF    OLIVES. 


.nan.  He  answered  that  he  was  an  American  Jew,  that  he  had 
come  from  New  Orleans,  and  was  going  to  Jerusalem.  We  parted 
with  them  on  th-e  steamer.     The  day  after  we  reached  the  Holy 


BETHAXY.  599 

City  we  learned  that  the  poor  woman  had  climbed  the  mountain 
with  her  husband  and  children,  and  arrived  the  day  after  us.  She 
died  immediately,  and  so  achieved  the  design  of  her  pilgrimage. 
She  was  buried  in  this  cemetery.  She  was  a  Jewess,  and,  according 
to  the  Jewish  interpretation  of  the  prophecies,  the  Jew  that  dies  in 
Jerusalem  will  certainly  rise  in  para^lise. 

The  Mount  of  Olives,  with  the  customary  proclivity  of  the  faith- 
ful, has  been  divided  into  three :  the  central  and  loftiest  one  is 
called  the  Mount  of  Olives;  the  northern  oiie, Mount  Scopus  ;  the 
southern,  the  Mount  of  Evil  Counsel.  Three  paths  lead  over  the 
Mount  of  Olives :  one,  on  the  north,  in  the  sunken  line  which 
marks  the  junction  of  Mount  Scopus;  the  central  one,  directly 
across  the  Mount  of  Olives,  at  its  highest  point ;  and  a  third, 
winding  at  the  foot  of  the  slope  which  separates  Olivet  from  the 
Mount  of  Evil  Counsel.  A  rouo-h  ride  of  three  miles  over  the  lat- 
ter  brought  us  at  noon  quite  around  the  mountain-summit  to  Beth- 
any. Little,  however,  were  we  disposed  to  complain  ot  the  hard- 
ships of  the  dreary  ride,  when  we  remembered  that  we  were  on 
the  very  same  road  that  David  travelled,  fleeing  from  Absalom, 
"  toward  the  way  of  the  wilderness  and  wept  as  he  went  up." 

Bethany,  on  the  opposite  side  of  Olivet,  overlooks  the  Dead 
Sea,  and  beyond  it  the  long,  stupendous  range  of  the  mountains 
of  Moab.  With  a  previous  instruction,  we  were  able  to  discern  the 
Yalley  of  the  Jordan,  and  to  detect  a  silver  thread  of  its  waters, 
lying,  far  away  to  the  northeast,  beyond  the  desert  which  covers 
the  eastern  slope  of  the  mountains  of  Juden.  Bethany,  as  it  pre- 
'sents  itself  in  the  simple  narrative  of  the  Gospels,  is  a  delight  and 
a  charm.  The  friendship  which  existed  between  Jesus  and  Mary 
and  Martha,  their  implicit  trust  in  him,  and  his  benevolent  conde- 
scension in  raising  their  brother  from  the  dead,  come  up  vividly 
before  one  at  the  very  mention  of  the  name  of  the  humble  village 
in  which  they  lived.  It  was  from  Bethany  also,  then  embowered 
in  olive,  palm,  sycamore,  and  %  trees,  that  the  Lord  commenced 
that  memorable,  triumphal  progress  across  the  mountain  to  Jerusa- 
lem, in  which  "  much  people,  that  were  come  to  the  feast,  when 
they  heard  that  Jesus  was  coming  to  Jerusalem,  took  branches  of 


600  EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 

palm-trees,  and  went  forth  to  meet  him,  and  cried,  Hosanna ! 
Blessed  is  the  King  of  Israel  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord." 

The  hospitalities  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  monasteries  here  have 
been  kindly  extended  to  Mr.  Seward  by  their  superiors. 

Mr.  Seward  received,  to-day,  visits  from  all  the  foreign  consuls 
residing  at  the  Holy  City.  After  this,  attended  by  a  guard  of  honor, 
he  returned  the  visit  of  the  Pacha  of  Jerusalem,  and  was  sui-prised 
to  find  that,  although  the  Scala  Santa  was  removed  so  long  ago  to 
Rome,  he  found  no  difficulty  in  ascending  to  the  upper  story,  where 
he  was  hospitably  entertained  by  the  present  Turkish  governor  in 
the  palace  which  we  have  all  along  been  assured  was  the  identical 
gubernatorial  residence  of  Pontius  Pilate.  Mr.  Seward  says  that, 
if  the  tradition  is  true,  the  vacillating  Roman  governor  had  a  won- 
derfully fine  modern  house.  "We  spent  the  evening  "  on  the  house- 
tops "  of  the  paiace  of  Bishop  Gobat  and  his  family. 

The  Greek  Church  in  Russia  has  lately  manifested  a  new  and 
extraordinary  interest  in  regard  to  the  Holy  Land.  The  number 
of  pilgrims  from  that  country  has  become  immense.  They  come 
down  the  Black  Sea,  and  through  the  Levant.  The  Greeks  of 
Russia  have  lately  built,  in  a  beautiful  suburb,  an  extensive  church, 
with  a  home  or  asylum  for  pilgrims  of  each  sex.  These  structures 
are  much  more  costly  and  elegant  than  any  other  Christian  estab- 
lishments built  here.  The  enterprise  enjoys  the  protection,  and 
doubtless  the  aid,  of  the  Russian  Government.  It  is  an  indication 
that  Russia  adheres,  notwithstanding  the  disaster  at  Sevastopol,  to 
the  cardinal  policy  of  Peter  the  Great  and  of  the  late  Emperor 
Nicholas.  Under  whatever  auspices  it  may  happen,  and  with 
whatever  political  design,  it  is  gratifying  to  see  this  renewal  of 
Christian  interest  in  Jerusalem. 

June  loth. — "  And  the  name  of  the  city  from  that  day  shall  be, 
the  Lord  is  there."  Our  last  day  at  Jerusalem  has  been  spent,  as 
it  ought  to  have  been,  among  and  with  the  Jews,  who  were  the 
builders  and  founders  of  the  city,  and  who  cling  the  closer  to  it  for 
its  disasters  and  desolation.     "We  have  mentioned  that  the  Jewish 


THE   WAILING-PLAOE. 


601 


quarter  adjoins,  on  the  southeast,  the  high  wail  of  the  Haram. 
This  wall  is  a  close  one,  while  the  upper  part,  like  all  the  Turkish 
walls  of  the  city,  is  built  of  small  stone.  The  base  of  this  portion 
of  the  wall,  enclosing  the  Mosque  of  Omar,  and  the  site  of  the 
ancient  temple,  consists  of  five  tiers  of  massive,  accurately-bevelled 
blocks.  It  is  impossible  to  resist  the  impression  at  first  view,  not- 
withstanding the  prophecy,  that  this  is  a  portion  of  the  wall  of 
the  Temple  of  Solomon,  which  was  hewn  in  the  quarries  and  set 
up  in  its  place  without  the  noise  of  the  hammer  and  the  axe.     So 


JEWS     WAILING-PLACK. 


at  least  the  Jews  believe.  For  centuries  (we  do  not  know  how 
many)  the  Turkish  rulers  have  allowed  the  oppressed  and  exiled 
Jews  the  privilege  of  gathering  at  the  foot  of  this  wall  one  day  in 
every  week,  and  pouring  out  their  lamentations  over  the  fall  of 
their  beloved  city,  and  praying  for  its  restoration  to  the  Lord,  who 
promised,  in  giving  its  name,  that  he  would  "  be  there." 

The  Jewish  sabbath  being  on  Saturday,  and  beginning  at  sun- 
set on  Friday,  the  weekly  wail  of  the  Jews  under  the  wall  takes 
place  on  Friday,  and  is  a  preparation  for  the  rest  and  worship  of 


002  ■  EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 

the  day  wliich  they  are  commanded  to  "  keep  holy."  The  small 
rectangular  oblong  area,  without  roof  or  canopy,  serves  for  the 
o-atherino;  of  the  whole  remnant  ot  the  Jewish  nation  in  Jerusalem. 
Here,  whether  it  rains  or  shines,  they  come  together  at  an  early 
hour,  old  and  young,  men,  women,  and  little  children — the  poor 
and  the  rich,  in  their  best  costumes,  discordant  as  the  diverse  na- 
tions from  which  they  come.  They  are  attended  by  their  rabbis, 
each  bringing  the  carefully-preserved  and  elaborately-bound  text  of 
the  book  of  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah,  either  in  their  respec- 
tive languages,  or  in  the  original  Hebrew.  For  many  hours  they 
pour  forth  their  complaints,  reading  and  reciting  the  poetic  lan- 
guage of  the  prophet,  beating  their  hands  against  the  wall,  and 
bathing  the  stones  with  their  kisses  and  tears.  It  is  no  mere  for- 
mal ceremony.  During  the  several  hours  while  we  were  spectators 
of  it,  there  was  not  one  act  of  irreverence  or  indilFerence.  Only 
those  who  have  seen  the  solemn  prayer-meeting  of  a  religious  re- 
vival, held  by  some  evangelical  denomination  at  home,  can  have  a 
true  idea  of  the  solemnity  and  depth  of  the  profound  grief  and  pious 
feeling  exhibited  by  this  strange  assembly  on  so  strange  an  occa- 
sion, although  no  ritual  in  the  Catholic,  Greek,  or  Episcopal  Church 
is  conducted  with  more  solemnity  and  propriety. 

Though  we  supposed  our  party  unobserved,  we  had  scarcely 
left  the  place,  when  a  meek,  gentle  Jew,  in  a  long,  plain  brown 
dress,  his  light,  glossy  hair  falling  in  ringlets  on  either  side  of  his 
face,  came  to  us,  and,  respectfully  accosting  Mr.  Seward,  expressed 
a  desire  that  he  would  visit  the  new  synagogue,  where  the  sabbath- 
service  was  about  to  open  at  sunset.  Mr.  Seward  assented.  A 
crowd  of  "  the  peculiar  people"  attended  and  showed  us  the  way  to 
the  new  house  of  prayer,  which  we  are  informed  was  recently  built 
by  a  rich  countryman  of  our  own  whose  name  we  did  not  learn. 
It  is  called  the  American  Synagogue.  It  is  a  very  lofty  edifice,  sur- 
mounted by  a  circular  dome.  Just  underneath  it  a  circular  gallery 
is  devoted  exclusively  to  the  women.  Aisles  run  between  the  rows 
of  columns  which  support  the  gallery  and  dome.  On  the  plain 
stone  pavement,  rows  of  movable,  wooden  benches  with  backs  are 
free  to  all  who  come.     At  the  side  of  the  synagogue,  opposite  the 


THE   JEWISH   SERVICE.  603 

door,  is  an  elevated  desk  on  a  platform  accessible  only  by  movable 
steps,  and  resembling  more  a  pulpit  tlian  a  chancel.  It  was 
adorned  with  red-damask  curtains,  and  behind  them  a  Hebrew  in- 
scription. Directly  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  between  the  door 
and  this  platform,  is  a  dais  six  feet  high  and  ten  feet  square,  sur- 
rounded by  a  brass  railing,  carpeted,  and  containing  cushioned 
seats.  We  assume  that  this  dais,  high  above  the  heads  of  the  wor- 
shippers, and  on  the  same  elevation  with  the  platform  appropriated 
to  prayer,  is  assigned  to  the  rabbis.  We  took  seats  on  one  of  the 
benches  against  the  -..all;  presently  an  elderly  person,  speaking 
English  imperfectly,  invited  Mr.  Seward  to  change  his  seat ;  he 
hesitated,  but,  on  being  informed  by  Mr.  Finkelstein  that  the  per- 
son who  gave  the  invitation  was  the  president  of  the  synagogue, 
Mr.  Seward  rose,  and  the  whole  party,  accompanying  him,  were 
conducted  up  the  steps  and  were  comfortably  seated  on  the  dais,  in 
the  "  chief  seat  in  the  synagogue."  On  this  dais  was  a  tall,  branch- 
ing, silver  candlestick  with  seven  arms. 

The  congregation  now  gathered  in,  the  women  filling  the  gal- 
lery, and  the  men,  in  varied  costumes,  and  wearing  hats  of  all 
shapes  and  colors,  sitting  or  standing  as  they  pleased.  The  light- 
ing of  many  silver  lamps,  judiciously  arranged,  gave  notice  that  the 
sixth  day's  sun  had  set,  and  that  the  holy  day  had  begun.  In- 
stantly, the  worshippers,  all  standing,  and  as  many  as  could  turning 
to  the  wall,  began  the  utterance  of  prayer,  bending  backward  and 
forward,  repeating  the  words  in  a  chanting  tone,  which  each  read 
from  a  book,  in  a  low  voice  like  the  reciting  of  prayers  after  the 
clergyman  in  the  Episcopal  service.  It  seemed  to  us  a  service 
without  prescribed  form  or  order.  Wlien  it  had  continued  some 
time,  thinking  that  Mr.  Seward  might  be  impatient  to  leave,  the 
chief  men  requested  that  he  would  remain  a  few  moments,  until  a 
prayer  should  be  offered  for  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
another  for  himself.  Now  a  remarkable  rabbi,  clad  in  a  lono;,  rich, 
flowing  sacerdotal  dress,  walked  up  the  aisle ;  a  table  was  lifted 
from  the  floor  to  the  platform,  and,  by  a  steep  ladder  which  was 
held  by  two  assistant  priests,  the  rabbi  ascended  the  platform.  A 
large  foho  Hebrew  manuscript  was  laid  on  the  table  before  him, 


604  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

and  he  recited  with  marked  intonation,  in  clear  falsetto^  a  prayer, 
in  which  he  was  joined  by  the  assistants  reading  from  the  same 
manuscript.  We  were  at  first  uncertain  whether  this  was  a  psalm 
or  a  prayer,  but  we  remembered  that  all  the  Hebrew  prayers  arc 
expressed  in  a  tone  which  rises  above  the  recitative  and  approaches 
melody,  so  that  a  candidate  for  the  priesthood  is  always  required  to 
have  a  musical  voice.  At  the  close  of  the  reading,  the  rabbi  came 
to  Mr.  Seward  and  informed  him  that  it  was  a  prayer  for  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  and  a  thanksgiving  for  the  deliverance 
of  the  Union  from  its  rebellious  assailants.  Then  came  a  second ; 
it  was  in  Hebrew  and  intoned,  but  the  rabbi  informed  us  that  it 
was  a  prayer  of  gratitude  for  Mr.  Seward's  visit  to  the  Jews  at 
Jerusalem,  for  his  health,  for  his  safe  return  to  his  native  land,  and 
a  long,  hapi^y  life.  The  rabbi  now  descended,  and  it  was  evident 
that  the  service  was  at  an  end.  Coming  down  from  the  dais,  we 
were  met  by  a  band  of  musicians  playing  on  drums,  fifes,  and  vio- 
lins. AVe  questioned  whether  this  music  was  a  part  of  the  service 
of  the  svnao^o^ue,  but  our  doubt  was  removed  when  we  found  it 
accompanying  us  to  the  gate  of  our  hotel.  The  Jews,  in  their  dis- 
persion, are  understood  to  be  forbidden  the  use  of  musical  instru- 
ments in  worship.  Their  chants  of  praise  are  the  traditional  songs 
of  Israel,  just  as  the  Christians,  who  have  succeeded  them,  prefer,  to 
all  other  devotional  hymns,  the  Psalms  of  David. 

A  pleasant  dinner  ensued  with  the  United  States  consul  and  his 
accomplished  wife,  where  we  had  the  honor  ol  meeting  the  venera- 
ble Bishop  Gobat  and  Mrs.  Gobat.  We  infer  that  the  Coptic, 
Catholic,  Greek,  and  Armenian  Churches  have  given  up  the  design 
of  proselytism  here,  and  now  confine  their  labors  to  the  enlarge- 
ment and  improvement  of  their  several  convents  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  Christian  pilgrims  in  the  Holy  Land.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Protestant  missionaries  from  Germany,  Great  Britain,  and  the 
United  States,  are  the  living,  active  preachers  and  teachers  of  the 
Gospel  in  Syria. 

Jaffa,  June  \^ih. — We  left  Jerusalem  at  that  early  hour  when 
from  the  "  Dome  of  the  Rock,"  and  the  Mosque  el-Aksa,  and  from 


BEIRUT.  605 

every  minaret  in  the  city,  the  shrill  Moslem  call  to  prayer  was  re- 
sounding. The  Pacha  of  Jerusalem,  with  his  suite  and  guard, 
joined  us  at  the  Jaffa  gate,  and  travels  with  us  to  Damascus,  giv- 
ino-  Mr.  Seward  his  protection,  and  insisting  on  his  taking  prece- 
dence throughout  the  journey.  But  our  ways  are  not  Turkish 
ways,  and,  as  a  certainty,  the  Turkish  ways  are  not  our  ways  ;  and, 
while  we  rode  together,  and  have  entered  villages  and  towns  as  one 
party,  we  separated  on  the  road  to  eat  and  sleep.  The  pacha  and 
his  party  lunched  by  the  way-side  at  the  foot  of  the  wilderness  of 
John  the  Baptist ;  we  took  om-  lunch  and  siesta  by  the  side  of 
the  spring  under  the  shade  of  a  great  willow-oak-tree.  "We  rested 
with  the  good  Franciscan  monks  at  Eamleh  ;  the  pacha  and  his 
party  were  guests  of  the  governor  of  that  place.  At  Ramleh  and 
at  Jaffa  the  Turkish  bands  and  cavalry,  with  the  sheiks,  digni- 
taries, and  authorities  of  the  mosques  on  the  way,  met,  saluted,  and 
joined  us  in  our  progress.  The  gay  Turkish  cavalry  amused  and 
interested  us,  on  our  way  across  the  plain  of  Sharon,  by  their  feats 
of  horsemanship  and  their  strategy  of  battle,  charge  and  retreat, 
and  in  the  exercise  of  el-djerid.  We  do  not  wonder  that  I^apoleon 
said  that,  if  he  could  have  the  Mameluke  cavalry  with  the  French 
army,  he  could  conquer  the  world.  The  journey  was  an  easy  one, 
and  the  mountains  of  Judea  seemed  much  less  distant  and  cheerless 
than  when  we  were  so  wearily  climbing  them  on  our  way  to  Jerusa- 
lem. We  are  passing  our  last  hour  here  with  Mrs.  Hay  at  the 
vice-consulate,  preparatory  to  our  embarkation  with  the  Pacha  of 
Jerusalem  in  the  Apollo,  an  Austrian  Lloyd's  steamer,  for  Beirut. 

Beirut,  June  IMh. — We  had  the  pleasure  of  a  visit  from  the 
eminent  Dr.  Yan  Dyck  and  Dr.  Bliss,  his  worthy  associate,  and  we 
found  them  not  less  highly  esteemed  by  the  natives  here  than  they 
deservedly  are  at  home.  It  was  our  long-cherished  purpose  to  cross 
the  range  of  Lebanon  to  Damascus,  and,  on  the  way,  to  visit  Baal- 
bec,  the  Grecian  Heliopoli?.  Mr.  Seward  was  expected  at  Damas- 
cus, and  arrangements  had  been  made  for  his  hospitable  reception. 
But  the  way  is  long ;  the  journey,  especially  the  incidental  excur- 
sion to  Baalbec,  rough  and  tedious.     The  hot  season  has  already 


606 


EGYPT  AND   PALESTINE. 


commenced,  and  Mr.  Seward's  strength  seems  somewhat  impaired 
by  the  fatiguing  explorations  of  Palestine.  These  considerations, 
together  with  the  temporary  indisposition  of  another  member  of 
the  party,  and  the  hazard  of  dividing  it,  obliged  us,  though  with 
much  reluctance,  to  give  up  the  journey.  Perhaps  the  impression 
made  upon  us  by  the  unhappy  fate  of  the  two  daughters  of  Dr. 
AVoolsey,  who  perished  from  the  exhaustion  of  the  journey  from 
Damascus  to  Jerusalem,  last  winter,  has  had  its  weight.  The  gov- 
ernor's dissuasion  from  the  journey  decided  us. 

At  four  o'clock  we  left  our  hotel  and  returned  to  the  Apollo, 
whose  deck  aiforded  us  a  better  view  than  can  be  obtained  in  the 
town  itself  of  the  lofty  range  of  Lebanon,  with  its  whole  western 
declivity  bathed  in  gorgeous  light,  and  its  long,  castellated  snow- 
clad  crest  reflecting  the  rays  of  an  unclouded  setting  sun. 


TOWEB   or   DAVID,    JERUSALEM. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

FROM  PALESTINE  TO   GREECE. 

Impressions  of  Palestine. — The  Egyptian  Race. — Egyptian  Civilization. — Phoenicia  and 
Palestine. — The  Four  Rehgions. — What  we  owe  to  the  Jews. — Present  State  of 
Palestine. — The  Island  of  Cyprus. — The  Cesnola  Collection. — Smyrna. — An  Excur- 
sion to  Ephesus. — The  Seven  Sleepers. — Mr.  Wood's  Researches. — The  Temple  of 
Diana. — The  Isles  of  Greece. — Tinos. — The  City  of  Syra. — An  Illumination. 

Steamer  Apollo,  June  Wih. — We  are  to  see  no  more  of  either 
Palestine  or  Syria.  It  is  time  to  set  down  the  result  of  the  impres- 
sions received  in  them.  As  we  neared  the  promontory  of  Sinai, 
which  divides  the  head  of  the  Red  Sea  into  the  two  gulfs  of  Akaba 
and  Suez,  the  thought  occurred  that  we  were  apj)roaching  the  site 
of  the  opening  scene  of  the  world's  civilization.  The  one  half  of 
that  site  is  Egypt,  the  other  half  Syria,  including  in  ancient  times, 
as  now,  the  two  distinct  divisions  of  Palestine  and  Phoenicia.  We 
find  no  satisfaction  in  the  attempt  to  trace  the  nations  which  in- 
habited these  regions,  either  to  a  common  origin  or  to  distinct  races 
— at  least  we  can  do  nothing  of  that  hind  here  now.  It  is  certain 
that  the  ancient  Egyptians  were  neither  negroes  from  the  west 
bank  of  the  Nile  nor  Arabs  from  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Red  Sea, 
for  they  fought  and  conquered  tribes  and  nations  of  both  those  re- 
gions. The  negroes  and  Arabs,  like  our  North  American  Indian 
races,  prefer  the  desert  and  its  habits  to  civilization.  ISTeither  were 
the  ancient  Egyptians  Jews.  "We  distinguished  the  Jews  from  the 
Egyptians  in  the  paintings  on  the  tombs,  especially  at  Beni-Hassan. 

Nor  were  the  ancient  Egvptians  of  any  Western  type  of  the  Cau- 
46 


G08  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

casian  race.  The  probability  is,  that  some  tribes  of  Nortbwestem 
Asia  found  their  way  to  the  fertile  plains  of  the  Delta,  and  ex- 
tended their  settlements  np  the  narrow  valley  of  the  Nile,  conquer- 
ing aboriginal  peoples  in  the  desert  on  either  bank  to  the  borders 
of  Nubia.  Here  the  adventurers  crowded  into  close  contact,  and, 
threatened  with  invasions  from  either  desert,  as  well  as  from  the 
savage  African  tribes  of  ancient  Ethiopia,  organized  an  indepen- 
dent and  isolated  state.  Its  history  shows  that  Egypt  never  had  a 
foreign  ally,  and  that  it  was  rarely  ambitious  of  foreign  conquest 
or  influence.  The  system  of  government  was  a  theocracy,  not 
of  one  god,  but  of  several  or  many  gods.  Its  rulers  were  either 
priests  or  chiefs,  whom  the  priests  confessed  and  reverenced  as  the 
sons  of  gods.  It  is  probable  that  no  part  of  the  human  race  was 
ever  without  a  spoken  language,  but  the  ancient  Egyptians  im- 
proved this  possession,  which  is  common  to  all  nations,  by  adding 
to  it  the  inventions  of  architecture,  writing,  painting,  and  sculp- 
ture, inventions  by  which  men  not  only  could  communicate  their 
ideas  to  those  present  with  them,  but  could  record  them  for  the  in- 
struction and  guidance  of  succeeding  generations.  They  acquired 
a  sufficient  astronomical  science  to  mark  the  divisions  of  the  year 
and  the  seasons,  and  they  acquired  high  practical  skill  in  the  irriga- 
tion and  cultivation  of  the  earth.  They  develoi3ed  a  rude  military 
art,  and  naturally  and  easily  acquired  the  little  skill  in  navigation 
which  their  inland  situation  required.  An  experience  of  the  acci- 
dents of  the  Nile  taught  them  how,  in  the  seasons  of  plenty,  to 
make  provision  against  occasional  famine.  The  Egyptian  nation 
went  no  further.  Their  religion,  the  first  known  among  men,  ac- 
cepted the  intuitive  suggestion  of  the  human  mind,  that  it  cannot 
altogether  perish  in  death,  but  must  at  some  time,  and  somewhere, 
return  to  activity  again.  So  the  Egyptians  contented  themselves 
with  building  temples  worthy  of  the  gods  by  whom  they  were  pro- 
tected, and  monuments  to  commemorate  the  greatness  of  their 
heroes,  and  with  recording,  in  the  most  effective  and  enduring 
manner  possible,  their  national  achievements,  depositing  the  rec- 
ords in  those  imperishable  temples  and  monuments  ;  burying  their 
dead  with  such  precautions  as  would  preserve  the  body  in  safety, 


THE    PHCENICIANS.  609 

for  tlie  return  of  the  wandering  spirit  whicli  had  left  it,  for  three 
thousand  years. 

Men  and  nations  have  many  wants  for  which  this  unique  system 
of  isolated  Egyptian  civilization  made  either  no  provision  at  all,  or 
no  adequate  one.  The  first  of  those  wants,  among  a  maritime 
tribe  or  people,  is  commerce  by  navigation.  Next,  more  effective 
means  of  defence  and  aggression.  It  is  not  possible  for  the  human 
race  anywhere  to  remain  long  in  the  belief  that  they  must  con- 
tinue passive  subjects  of  a  direct  government  of  the  gods.  Men 
can  never  be  content  with  any  one  system  of  religion,  or  its  ex- 
planations of  their  origin,  their  duties,  and  their  destinies.  They 
continually  demand  and  strive  for  a  higher,  purer,  nobler  one.  The 
human  mind  is  never  content  with  any  system  of  education  or 
learning  in  the  arts.  It  is  constantly  striving  for  a  better  and 
more  perfect  one.  Man  is  a  social  being,  and  needs  society  and 
laws  regulating  social  intercourse  between  states,  tribes,  and  na- 
tions, as  much  as  between  individuals. 

These  natural  wants  of  human  society  found  embodiment  and 
activity  among  that  great  people  which  is  first  known  to  us  as  a 
civilized  nation  on  the  Mediterranean  coast,  under  the  name  of 
Phoenicians.  It  is  certain  that  the  Phoenicians  were  not  Egyp- 
tians. It  is  equally  clear  that  they  were  not  Jews ;  for,  from  the 
earliest  mention  of  them  by  Jewish  historians,  they  were  aliens  and 
strangers,  and  sometimes  enemies.  But  it  is  certain  that,  while 
they  occasionally  derived  knowledge  and  learning  from  Egypt,  they 
invented  and  perfected  commerce  and  navigation,  laws  for  society 
at  home,  and  laws  for  social  intercourse  with  foreign  nations. 
They  extended  and  difiused  all  their  acquired  Information,  knowl- 
edge, and  arts,  to  the  inhabitants  of  Asia  Minor,  and  of  the  Greek 
islands.  Phoenicia,  therefore,  was  the  cradle  of  a  new  civilization, 
differing  and  distinct  from  that  of  Egypt.  This  civilization,  im- 
proved by  Greece  and  Rome,  is  doubtless  the  basis  of  our  own 
modern  "Western  civilization.  Midway  between  those  two  great 
original  states,  Egypt  and  Phoenicia,  with  their  very  different  civil- 
ization, arose  a  third  state,  distinct,  different,  and  antagonistic  to 
both.     This  state  was  the  Jewish  nation,  the  people  of  Israel,  who. 


CIO  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

as  a  single  tribe,  in  a  season  of  famine,  entered  Egypt  for  bread. 
After  a  long  struggle  they  obtained  their  deliverance,  and,  effecting 
the  conquest  of  that  portion  of  the  Mediterranean  coast  which  lay 
between  Phoenicia  on  the  one  hand,  and  Egypt  on  the  other, 
founded  the  state  known  in  ancient  times,  not  less  than  in  our 
own,  as  Palestine.  While  they  brought  away  from  Egypt  arts  and 
knowledge,  they  also  readily  adopted  many  of  the  improvements 
and  arts  of  the  Phoenicians.  "Whether  by  Divine  illumination  or 
otherwise,  they  reached  the  sublime  truth  of  the  unity  of  God,  and, 
arraying  themselves  in  hostility  against  the  Phoenicians  and  the 
Egyptians,  who  both  denied  it,  and  adhered  to  their  polytheistic 
system,  they  became  a  distinct  and  independent  people.  They 
have  held  ever  since  to  that  simple  and  sublime  faith. 

What,  then,  does  modern  civilization  owe  to  the  Jewish  na- 
tion? Not  letters,  nor  architecture,  nor  painting,  nor  sculpture, 
nor  philosophy,  nor  science,  nor  civil  government.  All  these, 
modern  society  has  derived  from  the  Phoenicians  or  the  Egyptians, 
or  from  both.  But  modern  civilization  derives  its  knowledge  of 
the  relations  of  man  toward  his  Maker,  and  the  system  of  faith, 
morals,  and  manners,  built  upon  that  knowledge,  from  the  Jewish 
nation.  The  religious  systems  now  existing  in  the  world  are  only 
four :  First,  pagan,  that  of  ancient  Egypt ;  second,  Jewish,  that 
of  the  Hebrews ;  third.  Christian ;  fourth,  Mohammedan.  Jews, 
Christians,  and  Mohammedans,  all  agree  that  the  Jewish  faith  is 
an  advance  above  paganism.  All  equally  agree  that  Christianity 
is  an  advance  above  paganism.  All  equally  agree  that  Mohamme- 
danism, with  all  its  errors,  is  an  advance  above  paganism.  But 
the  Jewish  religion  was  established  by  the  Jews  alone — Christian- 
ity comes  to  us  as  a  gift  from  the  Jewish  nation — and  even  Mo- 
hammedanism is  only  a  perversion  of  Christianity,  derived  from 
the  Jews.  Thus  the  world  owes  these  three  forms  of  religion  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  to  the  Jewish  nation. 

Now,  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  all  these  three  systems  of  religion 
are  favorable  and  effective  in  advancing  human  progress ;  that 
however  nations,  which  embrace  either  of  these  faiths,  may  decline, 
yet  the  progress  which  they  introduce  is  taken  up  and  continued 


POPULATION   OF  PALESTmE.  611 

by  other  nations ;  whereas  the  civilization  which  is  built  upon  a 
system  of  pagan  faith  has  been  corrupted,  and  is  becoming  effete 
everywhere.  Continental  Asia  needs  regeneration,  and  can  obtain 
it  only  through  the  agency  of  Western  civilization  derived  from  the 
Jewish  nation.  Western  civilization  is  living  and  effective,  and, 
while  it  is  progressing  in  the  West,  it  is  actively  regenerating  the 
effete  civilization  of  the  East. 

We  have  said  that  we  owe  neither  science,  nor  government,  nor 
arts,  nor  arms,  to  the  Jews ;  but  all  considerate  men  will  agree 
that  we  have  derived  poetry  from  that  people — if  not  the  art  of 
poetry  itself,  at  least  that  part  of  the  art  which  is  most  sublime  and 
beneficent  in  its  influences.  Moreover,  to  whom,  but  to  the  Jewish 
nation,  are  we  indebted  for  the  civilization  of  domestic  life  and  its 
relations  ?  Certainly  not  to  Egypt.  Ancient  Egypt,  indeed,  occa- 
sionally had  queens,  but  no  women.  Neither  her  monuments,  her 
sculpture,  nor  her  painting,  present  us  with  the  idea  of  woman  as 
that  idea  has  developed  and  culminated  in  a  civilized  age.  Wher- 
ever the  pagan  system  prevails,  throughout  all  Asia,  woman  is 
unknown  as  a  force  or  power  in  society.  JS^or  can  we  trace  the 
domestic  relation  in  its  present  form  to  Greece  or  Phoenicia,  while 
it  was  perfectly  developed  in  the  Jews  as  early  as  the  time  of  our 
Saviour.  Heroic  men  have  their  discords  in  profane  history,  but  it 
is  only  in  the  sacred  history  of  the  Jews  and  of  the  Christians  in 
Jerusalem  that  we  find  Mary,  Martha,  Esther,  Ruth,  Naomi, 
Rachel,  and  the  daughter  of  Jephthah.  There  are  two  other  obliga- 
tions of  modern  society  to  the  Jewish  nation.  While  we  do  not 
suppose  that  society  has  existed  in  any  country  without  laws,  yet  it 
was  through  the  Jewish  nation  that  we  have  received  the  deca- 
logue, paramount  in  authority  to  all  merely  conventional  laws,  as 
well  as  superior  in  the  comprehensiveness  of  its  commands.  Again, 
while  all  nations  have  felt  the  necessity  of  occasional  days  of  rest 
and  devotion  as  indispensable  to  society,  it  was  the  Jews  who  first 
had  the  idea  of  resting  on  the  seventh  day  and  hallowing  it. 

The  population  of  Palestine  is  estimated  at  only  two  hundred 
thousand.  It  is  scattered  over  mountains,  which  seem  only  min- 
gled masses  of  rocks  and  ruins,  with  here  and  there  a  smiling  val- 


012  EGYPT   AND   PALESTINE. 

lev  or  dell,  wliicli  in  vain  solicits  society  and  cultivation.  Jeru- 
salem, without  trade,  without  any  organized  society,  without  even 
rich  landed  proprietors,  is  a  congregation  of  ecclesiastics  and  me- 
chanics or  artisans,  who  subsist  by  suppljang  the  few  wants  of  the 
annual  crowds  of  religious  pilgrims,  generally  poor,  who  come  to 
pay  their  vows  at  the  sepulchre.  Probably  no  town  of  an  equal 
population  in  the  Alps  or  Rocky  Mountains  is  so  universally  poor 
iis  Jerusalem.  In  looking  over  the  country  now,  travellers  find  it 
difficult  to  conceive  that  it  once  sustained  three  millions  of  vigor- 
ous, prosperous,  and  happy  people.  Travellers  have  two  different 
ways  of  accounting  for  this :  a  skeptical  class  conclude  that  the  an- 
cient glory  and  greatness  of  Palestine  were  exaggerated ;  another 
class,  pious  and  credulous,  infer  that  the  land  has  been  wasted  by  a 
scourge,  a  curse  for  the  obduracy  of  its  ancient  people.  The  truth 
doubtless  is,  that  Palestine  in  the  day  of  the  Jewish  nation  was  just 
as  it  is  described  by  her  poets  and  prophets  :  its  valleys  rejoiced  in 
corn  and  wine ;  its  mountains  were  covered  with  olives,  iigs, 
pomegranates,  and  mulberries,  and  even  its  rocky  cliffs  with  flocks 
and  herds.  For  two  thousand  years,  Palestine  has  been  a  theatre 
of  civil  war,  and  of  foreign  wars  instigated  by  ambition,  cupidity,  re- 
ligious propagandism,  and  persecution.  Persians,  Greeks,  Romans, 
Christians,  Mussulmans,  English,  French,  Turks,  and  Germans, 
have  all  participated  in  these  conflicts.  Its  ancient  people,  ex- 
hausted, dispersed,  impoverished,  and  desolated,  have  left  the  ter- 
races on  its  mountains  to  go  to  waste,  after  being  denuded  of  their 
woody  covering,  while  they  have  fled  from  and  abandoned  its  thou- 
sand villages  for  shelter  in  the  rocks.  We  know  not  what  has 
become  of  the  race  which  once  made  Palestine  the  pride  and  glory 
of  the  world — they  have  mostly  disappeared  in  these  desolating 
wars. 

The  Roman  conquerors  were  content  with  subjugating  the  coun- 
try ;  the  Crusaders  were  neither  agriculturists,  shepherds,  nor  colo- 
nists ;  and  those  who  remained  were  merely  monks  and  hermits. 
Mussulman  propagandism  employs  only  the  exterminating  sword, 
and  the  Turk  has  extended  into  Palestine  the  barbarism  which  the 
successful  armies  of  the  "Prophet"  established  m  every  country 


SOMETHING  NEW   UNDER  THE   SUN.  C13 

where  thej  appeared.  The  Bedouin  Arabs  followed  the  Moham- 
medau  conquerors,  and  there  could  be  no  safe  or  peaceful  cultiva- 
tion in  the  neighborhood  of  their  tents.  While  this  devastation 
has  in  every  century  become  more  complete,  the  European  nations 
have  been  as  constantly  moved  with  a  desire  for  the  regeneration 
of  Palestine.  This  desire  has  manifested  itself  in  two  schemes  very 
difterent,  and  yet  both  equally  impracticable. 

The  Jews  expect  the  regeneration  of  Palestine  through  a  provi- 
dential restoration  of  themselves  to  the  ancient  city.  The  Chris- 
tians look  for  the  same  happy  consummation  through  the  missionary 
instruction  of  this  discordant  and  wretched  people.  We  would 
disturb  no  benevolent  religious  hope,  but  it  seems  to  us  that  the 
ways  appointed  or  allowed  by  Providence  do  not  necessarily  re- 
quire the  restoration  of  Jerusalem  or  of  Palestine  to  the  power  and 
prestige  they  enjoyed  under  the  reign  of  Solomon,  any  more  than 
they  require  the  restoration  of  Memphis  and  Egypt,  of  Athens  and 
Greece,  of  Home  and  Italy.  If  Solomon  could  come  again  upon 
the  earth,  and  see  the  mocking  Mosque  of  Omar  on  the  site  of  the 
glorious  temple  he  built,  and  see  his  royal  gardens  run  to  brambles 
and  weeds,  and  find,  instead  of  the  towers  and  palaces  in  which 
he  gloried,  a  city  enclosing  within  a  Turkish  wall  a  mere  huddle 
of  infidels — the  Egypt  which  he  feared,  a  solitude — the  Ezion-gebe]', 
whence  he  dispatched  his  shij)s  to  Ophir,  a  heap  of  sand — and 
Lebanon  covered  with  mulberries  instead  of  cedars  and  firs,  we 
think  he  would  concede  that  there  is  at  last  "  something  new  under 
the  sun."  Nevertheless,  it  is  only  in  one  sense  that  there  is  change 
from  the  past.  Human  nature  and  the  human  race  are  the  same. 
They  change  places,  circumstances,  and  conditions,  but  their  destiny 
remains  the  same,  and  their  progress  toward  it  is  continuous  and 
onward.  Empires  and  nations,  as  well  as  individuals,  are  mortal, 
but  the  human  race,  for  aught  we  know,  is  continuous  on  earth.  In 
modern  times,  at  least,  the  work  of  human  progress  is  carried  on 
chiefly  by  commerce  and  immigration ;  perhaps  it  was  always  so. 
Long  before  the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  "  the  star  of  empire  "  had  begun 
to  move  westward.  It  is  likely  to  continue  to  move  in  the  same 
direction  until  it  returns   to   the   point  in   the  heavens  whence 


614  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

it  took  its  departure.  New  capitals  and  new  nations  have  already 
come  into  existence,  and  more  will  come  before  Palestine  and  Jeru- 
salem will  be  restored.  But  this  is  not  discouraging  to  any  just 
hopes  of  the  East.  A  slight  improvement  is  already  noticeable  in 
Palestine.  Jaffa,  Caipha,  and  Beirut  already  exhibit  some  pleasing 
germs  of  progress  planted  by  the  always  patient  and  enterprising 
Germans.  The  more  that  new  capitals  and  nations  are  built  up  in 
the  West,  the  more  will  the  renewing,  revivifying  eifect  be  felt 
in  the  East,  and,  without  waiting  for  the  establishment  of  republics 
and  Christianity  in  India  and  China,  or  even  in  Japan,  we  may  see 
civilized,  enlightened  Christian  nations  come  into  existence  in 
Palestine,  as  well  as  in  Syria  and  in  Egypt. 

The  Jewish  improvement  and  Christian  missions  are  not  to  be 
rejected  or  undervalued.  They  will  cooperate  in  producing  these 
results,  though  insufficient  in  themselves  to  produce  them.  The 
Jewish  endowments  and  Christian  missions  are,  after  all,  only  for- 
eign charities.  Ko  nation  ever  was  or  can  be  regenerated  by  mere 
charity  from  abroad.  But  charity,  going  hand-in-hand  with  com- 
merce and  immigration,  effects  every  thing.  It  has  been  so  in  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  and  in  every  part  of  America.  Perhaps  we  need 
to  see  Constantinople  before  we  decide  upon  the  important  question 
whether  the  empire  of  Turkey  is  beginning  to  yield  to  the  renovat- 
ing influences  which  reach  it  from  the  West.  It  is  certain  that 
thus  far  in  Palestine  and  Syria,  as  well  as  in  Egypt,  we  find  Mussul- 
man bigotry  modified,  and  Oriental  prejudices  declining.  This  is 
an  auspicious  omen  of  the  gradual  improvement  of  Palestine.  We 
have  seen,  not  only  the  railroad,  but  the  ship-canal  in  Egypt,  as 
well  as  the  turnpike-road  and  the  telegraph  in  Palestine.  Why 
may  we  not  expect  to  see  the  railroad  as  well  as  the  telegraph  in 
Palestine?  How  can  there  be  telegraphs  and  raiboads  anywhere 
without  progress  and  civilization  ? 

June  2l6'2f,  off  Cy])rus. — The  island  of  Cypms,  the  Turkish  out- 
post in  the  Mediterranean,  known  to  us  only  by  the  fervent  poetic 
descriptions  of  the 'ancients,  and  by  the  commercial  reports  of  its 
fruitfulness  in  modern  times,  was  for  us,  as  we  suppose  it  is  for  all 


THE  CESNOLA  COLLECTION.  615 

travellers,  a  disappointment.  Its  population,  once  a  million,  is  now 
only  eighty  thousand.  Its  first  capital  Paphos,  now  a  mere  village 
on  the  beach — its  later  capital,  Idalium,  sunk  into  the  earth,  is  now 
visited  only  at  Larnica,  a  dull  modern  Turkish  village  seaport,  an 
ugly  town  at  the  base  of  a  broken  range  of  sand-hills.  Small 
clusters  of  date-palms  or  orchards  appear  at  intervals  at  the  left  of 
the  village,  while  a  small  strip  of  verdure  stretches  behind  the  town 
at  the  foot  of  the  parched  hills.  They  tell  us  here  that  they  have 
had  no  rain  for  three  years,  and  the  island  is  dried  up.  Exaggerated 
as  the  description  of  it  may  have  been  by  the  ancients,  it  is  never- 
theless an  island  abounding  in  the  richest  and  rarest  of  fruit.  Not 
only  its  figs,  but  its  raisins  and  wine,  are  recognized  as  familiar 
articles  of  commerce  throughout  the  world.  The  United  States 
consul,  General  di  Cesnola,  entertained  us  during  the  morning, 
and  we  had  an  opportunity  to  test  the  island  proverb  that  "  so 
many  days  are  added  to  one's  allotted  term  of  life,  by  every  draught 
of  its  delicious  wine."  "We  did  not  quaif  enough  to  add  much  to 
our  longevity,  although 

"The  brown  bees  of  Hymettus 
Make  their  honey  not  so  sweet." 

We  were  especially  interested  in  a  rare  collection  of  antiques 
which  General  di  Cesnola  has  fortmiately  made.  Purchasing  a 
piece  of  ground,  once  a  form,  which  proved  to  be  part  of  the  ancient 
city  of  Idalium,  and  obtaining  leave,  of  the  Turkish  authorities  to 
dig,  he  has  gone  down  through  at  least  three  cemeteries  in  tiers, 
one  above  another,  and  has  unearthed  more  than  fourteen  thou- 
sand articles,  from  the  tombs  of  successive  generations,  which  flour- 
ished through  a  period  of  probably  two  thousand  years.  Each  one 
of  these  relics  has  a  great  value  for  its  rarity,  but  the  aggregate 
collection  has  a  peculiar  and  even  a  more  curious  one,  because  it 
presents  works  of  art  and  taste,  statues,  tablets,  busts,  vases,  lamps, 
coins,  and  inscriptions,  utensils  and  ornaments  of  gold,  silver,  glass, 
and  terra-cotta,  in  a  combination  that,  like  a  series  of  chronological 
tables,  illustrates  the  history  not  only  of  Cyprus,  but  of  civilization 
itself. 


61G  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

The  lowest  stratum  is  a  collection  of  articles  as  low  and  rude  as 
the  attempts  at  carving  and  sculpture  of  the  !N"orth-American  In- 
dians. These  were  either  made  by  or  copied  from  the  ancient 
Egyptians  and  Assyrians.  Then  comes  the  next  stratum,  compris- 
ing the  improved  works  of  art  of  the  Phcenicians,  nearer  neighbors 
to  Cyprus,  and  historically  recognized  as  its  colonizers.  Next 
come  relics  of  the  Persians  ;  next  after  them,  in  the  ascending 
series,  are  those  of  the  Greeks,  among  which  are  works  of  statuary 
and  carving  not  unworthy  of  the  times  of  Pericles  and  Phidias ; 
then  those  of  the  era  of  Alexander ;  lastly,  those  of  the  period  of 
the  Roman  emperors. 

There  is  a  remarkable  unity,  however,  running  through  the 
whole  of  these  relics.  In  every  layer  of  them  were  found  mani- 
fold figures  of  Yenus,  the  guardian  goddess  of  the  Cyprians,  in 
every  attitude  and  association,  from  a  plate  of  coj^per  roughly 
shapen  into  a  human  form  to  the  Goddess  of  Love  rising  from  the 
wave  in  the  conch-shell  at  PajDlios,  or  attended  by  her  son  Cupid  in 
her  triumphal  car,  di'awn  by  gentle  doves,  graceful  swans,  or  active 
little  sparrows.  "We  noticed  no  Christian  relics.  Paul  and  Bar- 
nabas labored  here.  The  latter  was  a  native  of  Cyprus,  but  doubt- 
less their  contemporaries  and  followers  had  modes  of  sepulture  dif- 
ferent from  those  of  the  pagans.  It  is  sincerely  to  be  hoped  that 
this  valuable  collection  wiU  be  secured  by  some  museum  or  archaeo- 
logical society  in  the  United  States.' 

Smyrna^  June  2Mh. — Sm\Tna,  the  ancient  queen  of  Ionia, 
which,  according  to  the  historical  accounts,  has  slid  den  down  the 
rocky  coast  to  the  level  beach,  presents  a  scene  of  life  and  activity 
unusual  in  the  East.  The  harbor  and  wharves  are  filled  with  light 
and  graceful  shipping.  We  mistook  for  a  modern  Turkish  fortifica- 
tion the  ruins  of  a  Yenetian  fort  on  a  clifi"  which  overhangs  the 
city  with  picturesque  effect.  Near  the  summit  is  the  cave-tomb 
which  is  consecrated  in  Christian  afi'ections  as  the  tomb  of  Poly- 
carp,  native  bishop  and  martyr  of  Smyrna.     The  town,  stretching 

'  Since  this  was  written,  the  Cesnola  collection  has  been  purchased  for  the  Metropoli- 
tan Museum  of  Art,  and  is  now  (1873)  in  New  Yorli. 


AN  EXCURSION  TO  EPHESUS.  617 

a  mile  along  the  curving  shore,  seems  nearly  embowered  in  orange- 
orchards  and  cypress-groves.  On  near  approach,  an  ancient  part 
of  the  town  wears  the  dull  aspect  of  age  and  neglect,  but  there  is  a 
new  quarter  which  exhibits  elegant  structures,  indicative  of  com- 
mercial prosperity  and  enterprise.  This  improvement,  together 
with  a  railroad  just  constructed,  excites  some  hope  that  Greece,  so 
long  dead,  may  live  again.  The  government  estimate  of  the  popu- 
lation is  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand ;  we  think  it  one  hundred 
thousand. 

Here,  as  in  other  Turkish  ports,  the  authorities,  with  the  United 
States  consul,  came  on  board  to  receive  Mr.  Seward,  and  gave  him 
on  shore  a  demonstrative  welcome.  We  lose  no  time  in  making  an 
excursion  by  railroad  this  afternoon  to  the  ruins  of  Ephesus. 

Smyrna  is  situated  nearly  midway  on  a  promontory  which  pro- 
jects into  the  -^gean.  E2:)hesus  is  fifty  miles  southeast,  at  the  head 
of  the  bay,  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Meander,  while  Samos,  at  the 
opening  of  the  bay,  commands  both  ports. 

The  country  between  Smyrna  and  Ephesus,  even  under  Turkish 
rule,  is  highly  cultivated  with  cereals  and  fruits.  At  this  season  it 
is  brightly  pink  and  green  with  wild  oleanders  and  grain-fields, 
while  it  is  not  without  the  embellishment  of  ornamental  villas  and 
many  pretty  villages. 

Guides,  horses,  and  grooms,  were  in  waiting,  in  pursuance  of 
telegraphic  instructions,  at  the  station.  We  rode  in  the  rosy  light 
of  sunset  across  the  low  banks  of  the  Meander,  a  marsh  now,  as  it 
was  two  thousand  years  ago.  The  bay  afibrds  a  magnificent  har- 
bor, with  distant  views  of  Samos  and  Scio. 

Ephesus  stood  on  a  plain  broken  by  hills,  high  but  easy  of 
ascent.  The  famous  Temple  of  Diana  is  represented  by  the  an- 
cients as  having  been  conspicuous  in  the  approach  to  the  city  from 
the  sea.  Probably  all  or  most  of  the  public  edifices  stood  on  the 
summits  of  the  hills,  while  the  lower  grounds,  not  less  than  the  hills 
themselves,  were  occupied  with  dwellings  and  shops. 

There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  Ephesus  wore  a  noble  as  well 
as  a  cheerful  aspect.  Within  the  entire  area  of  the  ancient  city 
there  is  not  now  found  one  human  habitation.     There  are  ruins, 


618  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

but  nothing  more,  nothing  else.  Entering  that  area,  -^e  found 
that  experimental  excavations  had  been  made,  which  had  left  frag- 
ments of  marble  columns  scattered  in  all  directions.  Crossing, 
not  without  some  danger,  the  gaping  pits  made  by  these  excava- 
tions, we  found,  on  one  of  the  hill-sides,  the  cemetery  of  the  Ephe- 
sians.  Tombs,  some  single  alcoves,  others  vaulted  chambers,  had 
been  cut  in  the  solid  rock.  The  largest  of  these  chambers  was  as- 
serted by  our  Turkish  guide  to  be  tlie  tomb  of  St.  Luke.  But  our 
historical  researches  do  not  give  us  any  satisfactory  account  of  the 
manner  of  the  death  of  that  apostle.  Descending  from  the  hill,  we 
came  into  a  wild,  romantic  dell,  where  an  angle  of  the  precipice 
had  been  cut  away  and  two  large  chambers  excavated,  one  of  them 
having  a  vaulted  Grecian  roof.  We  could  not  conjecture  the  de- 
sign of  this  grotto,  overhung  with  tangled  shrubs  and  trees.  It 
seemed  too  airy  and  graceful  for  a  tomb,  too  inconvenient  and  som- 
bre for  a  dwelling,  and  too  small  for  a  temple.  Our  guide  solved 
the  difficulty  with  ease.  He  said  it  was  the  identical  cave  of  the 
"  Seven  Sleepers."  He  did  not  know  when  the  seven  sleepers 
went  to  sleep  or  why.  Fortunately,  our  early^  reading  of  romance 
supplied  us  with  the  pretty  legend. 

Seven  noble  youths,  who  had  embraced  Christianity  in  the  third 
century  at  Ephesus,  were  walled  up  in  this  cave,  together  with  a 
faithful  do!?.  After  restinor  there  two  centuries,  the  wall  was  re- 
moved — and  here  the  legend  divides :  One  version  is,  that  they 
showed  themselves  to  the  people,  and  went  on  their  way  rejoicing ; 
the  dog  as  jubilant  as  the  rest.  Tlie  Mohammedan  version  is,  that, 
though  their  bodies  were  found,  their  spirits  ascended  to  heaven, 
and  that  there  they,  as  well  as  the  good  dog,  yet  live  and  flourish, 
in  immortal  youth ;  the  latter  having  for  his  society  in  paradise 
several  other  noble  brutes,  namely,  the  ram  that  Abraham  sacri- 
ficed instead  of  his  son  Isaac,  Baalam's  remonstrating  ass,  the  ass 
which  the  Saviour  rode  on  his  triumphal  entry  into  Jerusalem,  and 
the  mare  which  Mohammed  rode  in  his  ascent  to  paradise. 

The  Greek  Christians,  apparently  not  less  superstitious  than 
their  brethren  of  Rome,  have  stuccoed  the  cave,  and  converted  it 
into  a  chapel  in  honor  of  one  of  their  modern  saints.     These  mau- 


ANCIENT  RUINS.  619 

soleums  of  Ephesus  were  remarkable  for  being  less  spacious  and 
more  tasteful  in  architecture  and  ornament  than  those  of  Egypt 
and  Palestine.  No  one  of  them  is  finished  without  the  use  of  the 
curved  line. 

Passing  down  and  around  this  hill-cemetery,  we  confronted,  on 
another  eminence,  the  ruins  of  a  vast  and  massive  circular  edifice. 
The  wall  is  constructed  of  stones  as  large  and  well  hewn  as  those 
in  the  wall  of  the  wailing-place  at  Jerusalem,  but  heaps  of  small 
stones,  bricks,  and  mortar,  are  mingled  with  them,  which  indicate 
either  the  frugal  age  of  architecture,  or  at  least  the  time  when  the 
Eoman  conquerors  of  Ephesus  repaired  the  structure.  Broken 
marble  columns,  architraves,  and  cornices,  half  covered  by  rubbish, 
prove  the  dignity  of  this  edifice,  and  archaeologists  have  decided 
that  it  was  the  stadium  of  the  city — a  place  used  for  popular  and 
municipal  assemblies. 

Winding  our  way  around  the  base  of  the  same  eminence,  we 
reached  another  ruin,  far  more  beautiful,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
unmistakable  in  its  design.  It  is  the  ruin  of  an  amphitheatre, 
small  indeed,  but  constructed  entirely  of  fine  white  marble.  The 
basement-story,  subdivided  into  halls,  corridors,  and  chambers,  is 
still  perfect,  and  the  semicircular  rows  of  seats,  rising  toward  the 
sides,  would  be  comfortable  for  an  audience  even  now.  All  the 
other  parts  of  the  little  theatre,  including  the  walls,  columns,  roof, 
and  cornices,  have  fallen  into  the  area,  but  the  fragments  of  each 
part  may  easily  be  distinguished.  An  architect  would  find  no  dif- 
ficulty in  rebuilding  the  theatre  in  its  original  form  and  propor- 
tions. But  this  is  not  the  only  place  of  popular  amusement.  Sepa- 
rated from  this  theatre  only  by  an  avenue  of  well-worn  tessellated 
pavement,  we  came  to  the  ruin  of  another  amphitheatre  four  times 
more  spacious  than  the  first,  the  model  the  same,  the  material  the 
same,  but  more  exquisitely  wrought.  The  seats  must  have  been 
sufficient  to  accommodate  thirty  thousand  spectators.  The  outer 
door-ways  remain  unbroken.  On  their  white-marble  jambs,  in 
pure  ancient  Greek,  in  letters  perfectly  legible,  as  if  engraved  yes- 
terday, are  the  police  rules  for  the  conduct  of  the  theatre,  and  even 
the  names  of  the  dramatis  persoiim.     The  vaulted  chambers  for  the 


620  EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 

confinement  of  tlie  wild  beasts,  with  arched  passages  leading  from 
them  into  the  arena,  remain  in  perfect  preservation.  Taking  our 
places  on  the  upper  tier,  and  looking  down  upon  the  space  now 
covered  with  the  confused  mass  of  broken  marble  columns,  walls, 
and  statuary,  we  said  to  ourselves,  This,  if  not  the  adjoining  ruin, 
must  be  "  the  theatre  into  which  the  people  rushed,  with  one  ac- 
cord," when  Paul  alarmed  Demetrius,  the  silversmith  "  which 
made  silver  shrines  for  Diana,"  together  with  the  workmen  of  like 
occupation,  by  preaching  that  "  they  be  no  gods  which  are  made 
with  hands." 

And,  since  we  find  here  the  cages  of  the  beasts  and  the  arena, 
this  surely  is  the  place  where  Paul  "  fought  with  beasts  at  Ephe- 
sus."  So  it  was  from  the  beginning,  and  so  it  will  be  to  the  end. 
The  proudest  work  of  man's  hands  must  perish  and  disappear  from 
the  earth,  while  no  thought  of  God's  can  ever  die.  Though  we 
cannot  identify  even  the  grave  of  one  of  the  thousands  to  whom 
Paul  preached  the  unity  and  spirituality  of  God,  nor  can  we  trace 
his  remains  to  their  final  resting-place,  yet  his  utterance  of  that 
divine  truth  already  encircles  the  earth,  and,  if  the  soul  of  man  be 
immortal,  must  survive  the  earth  itself. 

Thus  far  we  felt  that  we  were  treading  on  tolerably  safe  ground 
in  exploring  the  history  of  Epliesus.  Xow,  however,  on  looking 
off  toward  the  sea,  we  saw,  on  the  northern  promontory,  a  cir- 
cular, castellated  tower,  which  certainly  is  not  as  old  as  the  Pyra- 
mids nor  as  new  as  Fortress  Monroe.  Inquiring  what  it  was,  we 
were  answered  that  it  was  "  St.  Paul's  prison."  It  is  more  prob- 
ably the  ruin  of  a  Saracenic  (possibly  a  Roman)  watch-tower.  We 
next  passed  over  an  elevated  plain  designated,  perhaps  not  without 
reason,  as  a  field  of  gymnastic  exercises  similar  to  the  Olympic 
games. 

Ephesus,  so  completely  ruined,  is  now  nearly  lost  sight  of  by 
travellers ;  but  an  English  gentleman,  Mr.  Wood,  is  here  conduct- 
ing researches  for  the  British  Museum.  He  believes  he  has  recently 
discovered,  by  unmistakable  signs,  the  site  of  the  temple  dedicated 
to  the  worship  "  of  the  great  goddess  Diana,  and  of  the  image 
which  fell  down  from  Jupiter."     Mr.  Wood  is  said  to  have  care- 


THE   ISLES 'OF   GEEECE.  621 

fully  covered  the  columns  which  he  has  discovered,  a  service  to  his- 
tory for  which  he  does  not  receive  the  thanks  of  the  guides  or  the 
few  tourists  who  penetrate  to  Ephesus. 

We  left  Ephesus  under  the  beams  of  a  crescent  moon  (though  not 
as  the  Turks  paint  it,  with  Venus  between  its  horns),  and  reached 
the  hospitable  home  of  our  consul,  Mr.  Smithers,  at  midnight. 

It  was  the  eve  of  St.  John,  and,  late  as  the  hour  was,  the  en- 
tire population  was  in  the  streets,  which  were  blazing  with  bon- 
fires. We  are  not  surprised  at  this  devout  reverence  paid  to  his 
memory,  for  we  recall  the  fact  that  the  apostolic  missionaries,  when 
they  first  came  to  Ephesus,  found  there  Jews  who  practised  the  rite 
of  baptism,  but  knew  only  the  baptism  of  John. 

Grecian  Archij)elago^  June  2^th. — Pleasant  courtesies  were  ex- 
changed between  Mr.  Seward  and  the  Turkish  authorities  at 
Smyrna.  We  parted  here  with  our  excellent  friend  Betts  Bey, 
and  reembarked,  at  four  o'clock,  on  the  steamer  Apollo. 

June  'iDth. — "  The  isles  of  Greece  "  cannot  be  studied  in  their 
present  sober  and  commonplace  reality.  A  poetic  atmosphere  per- 
vades them,  and  they  rise  before  you,  not  in  their  present  real  dul- 
ness  and  isolation,  but  in  the  life  and  glowing  warmth  in  which 
they  have  been  sung  by  Homer  and  Byron. 

What  a  pretty,  white  village  is -this  of  Tinos  which  we  are  pass- 
ing, with  the  hills  behind  it  terraced  to  their  summits  with  orange- 
orchards  and  vineyards !  Green  little  Delos,  rising  gracefully  from 
the  sea  as  we  are  gliding  past,  tempts  us  to  go  ashore  and  search 
among  its  hills  for  the  remains  of  the  Temple  of  Apollo,  so  famous 
for  its  sanctity.  Syra  has  modern  beauty  that  gives  it  a  charm, 
needing  nothing  from  antiquity  to  make  it  attractive.  Little  of 
Syra  is  ever  read  or  heard  of  in  the  West,  except  that  it  is  a  mid- 
way station  of  exchange  of  products  between  the  Greek  ports.  A 
town  of  five  thousand  dwellings  is  built  on  the  face  of  a  triple  hill, 
the  streets  horizontal  and  parallel,  one  above  another,  so  that,  from 
the  deck  of  our  steamer  in  the  harbor,  we  look  into  the  door  of  every 
house  in  the  city.  Belonging  to  Greece,  the  island  is  inhabited  ex- 
clusively by  Christians.  For  the  first  time  since  we  arrived  in  Japan, 
47 


622 


EGYPT  AND  PALESTINE. 


nine  months  ago,  pagan  temples  and  Moslem  mosques  have  disap- 
peared, and  Christianity  confronts  neither  dissent  nor  opposition. 
Mr.  Seward  was  received  by  the  Greek  governor  and  United 


A  GREEK   OFFICIAL. 


States  consul,  and  our  party  enjoyed  a  delightful  promenade  con- 
cert in  the  small  public  square,  where  it  seemed  as  if  all  the  inhabi- 
tants had  come  out  for  evening  recreation,  news,  coiFee,  and  ices. 
The  Greek  costumes  of  both  sexes,  more  artistic  than  any  in  the 
world,  imparted  a  poetic  air  to  the  scene. 

We  embarked  at  seven  o'clock,  the  last  horn*  which  the  regula- 
tions allow  for  a  stay  in  port.  The  steamer  lingered  unaccountably. 
As  night  came  on,  fires  were  seen  creeping  along  the  rocky  terraces 
of  the  triple  hill.  These  bonfires  increasing  for  a  time,  at  last 
gave  way  to  a  pillar  of  fire  near  the  summit.  There  were  rockets 
and  balloons,  and  at  length  the  beautiful  Church  of  St.  George, 


AI^  ILLUMINATION. 


623 


wliich  crowns  the  liigliest  and  central  conical  hill,  flashed  forth  in 
full  blaze  of  red,  white,  and  blue  lights.  We  had  been  detained  for 
an  illumination  in  honor  of  Mr.  Seward's  visit. 

He  has  met  here  some  of  the  survivors  of  the  emissaries  who 
visited  the  United  States  to  secure  aid  for  the  Greek  Revolution  in 
1827.  This  illumination  was  a  consequence  of  his  sympathy  with 
the  Greek  cause.  Comparing  notes  with  these  revolutionists,  they 
enjoyed  the  pleasing  reflection  that,  although  their  sanguine  hopes 
for  the  recovery  of  all  Greece  had  not  been  accomplished,  yet  that 
a  not  inconsiderable  part  of  ancient  Greece,  main-land  as  well  as 
islands,  had  been  restored  to  independence  and  Christianity ;  and 
that  the  mass  of  the  Greek  people  are  enjoying  a  measure  of 
practical  civil  and  religious  liberty  unknown  since  the  days  of 
Pericles,  and  one  which  could  not  have  been  conceived  by  either 
Alcibiades  or  Demosthenes. 


.  „^cii;-iy^&«%,...  vNr5*i\^vVi,^.v,^ 


A  GKOIJP   OF   HEADS   FROM   THE   CESNOLA   COLLECTION. 


PART  YI. 
EUROPE 


r>r 


CHAPTER  I. 

ATHENS  AND   CONSTANTINOPLE. 

Athens. — The  Piraeus. — The  Hymettus. — The  Ilyssus. — Mr.  Tuckerman. — Queen  Olga. 
— Grecian  Ruius  compared  with  those  of  Egypt  and  Hindostan. — Modern  Greece, 
the  Mexico  of  Europe. — The  Sea  of  Marmora. — Taking  Constantinople  by  Surprise. 
—A  Contre-Temps.—AWs  Well  that  Ends  Well.— The  Sultan  Abdul- Aziz.— A  Busy 
Day. — Excursions. — Charms  of  Constantinople. — The  Old  Seraglio. — Fourth  of  July. 
— Robert  College. — The  Bosporus. — Turkish  Women. — The  New  Palace. — Untimely 
Visit. — Kiamil  Pacha. — Audience  with  the  Sultan. — Departure  from  Constantinople. 

Athens,  June  ^Sth. — "We  have  "  done "  Athens  in  thirty-six 
hours,  because  we  have  no  more  hours  to  do  it  in.  Although  we 
feel  somewhat  the  worse  for  it,  there  is  no  sign  that  Athens  has 
suffered.  Our  keen  appetite  for  antiques  and  eccentricities  of  hu- 
man progress  has  been  dulled.  It  seems  to  us  now  that,  here  in 
Greece,  instead  of  continuing  our  progress  down  the  stream  of  the 
old  civilization  of  the  world,  we  are  beginning  to  ascend  the  tide 
of  a  new  one. 

We  arrived  at  six  yesterday  morning,  at  the  Pirseus,  the  port 
of  modern  Athens,  but  no  longer  walled  and  fortified  as  in  the 
days  of  Pericles.  It  was  not  without  a  feeling  of  awe,  almost  of 
reverence,  that  we  recognized,  in  the  mountain-chain  which  borders 
the  plain  we  are  entering,  the  ancient  Hymettus,  and  the  whole 
glorious  though  brief  history  of  Athenian  greatness  rushed  upon 
us  as  we  looked  upon  the  more  distant  range  which  outlines  the 
Peloponnesus.  Deviating  from  the  direct  road,  we  af)proached  the 
city  through  one  of  those  vast  cemeteries  by  which  historians  tell 
us  it  was  entirely  surrounded  outside  of  the  ancient  walls.  Strange 
to  say,  the  cemetery  has  a  pleasing  rather  than  a  melancholy  as- 


628 


EUEOPE. 


pect.  No  gaping  vaults,  no  revolting  mummies,  no  tombs,  no  sar- 
cophagi, are  here.  All  excavations  have  been  filled  up  and  lev- 
elled, while  the  monuments  which  covered  them  have  been  gath- 
ered and  carefully  arranged.  The  monuments,  in  no  case  colossal, 
consist  of  marble  statuary,  and  tablets  engraved  and  inscribed  in 
alto-rilievo.  The  execution  in  all  cases  is  exquisite,  the  design  al- 
ways touching  and  simple. 

Modern  Athens  is  a  town  of  fifty  thousand  inhabitants.  Al- 
though it  retains  and  preserves  most  interesting  and  wonderful 
monuments  of  the  past,  it  is  nevertheless  purely  European,  and  has 
put  the  ancient  world  of  Africa  and  Asia  out  of  sight.  Its  streets 
are  of  comfortable  width,  well  paved ;  its  buildings,  with  few  ex- 


A  GREEK  WOMAK. 


eeptions,  are  modem,  but  crowded  too  densely.     We  took  lodgings 
at  the  Hotel  d'Angleterre,  at  the  foot  of  the  beautiful  gardens  of 


BRIDGE  AT  ELEUSIS. 


629 


tlie  Royal  Palace.     The  fields  round  Athens  are  brown  from  a  long 
drought,  but  the  monotony  is  relieved  by  a  wide  belt  of  olive-trees 


BKIBGE   AT   ELEUSIS. 


which  stretch  behind  the  city,  and  in  the  valley  quite  to  the  foot  of 
Hymettus.  The  cloudless  atmosphere  imparts  to  the  mountains 
that  deep-azure  hue  which  enthusiastic  writers  call  the  "  violet 
crown  "  of  Athens.  The  Ilyssus,  like  most  of  the  classic  streams 
of  Europe,  is  a  disappointment  to  the  American  traveller. 


630  EUROPE. 

June  2Sth. — Mr.  Tiickerman,  the  able  and  accomplislied  United 
States  minister,  being  absent  from  Greece,  had  arranged  with  the 
ministry  in  regard  to  Mr.  Seward's  reception,  and  had  left  the 
legation  in  the  care  of  the  United  States  consul,  charged  with  the 
duty  of  announcing  Mr.  Seward's  arrival.  The  consul  met  us  at 
the  Piraeus,  and  has  assiduously  attended  us  during  our  stay  in 
Athens.  On  our  return  last  night  from  an  excursion  to  Eleusis, 
we  found  a  note  from  the  chamberlain  appointing  eleven  o'clock 
this  morning  for  an  audience  with  Queen  Olga  in  the  absence  of 
the  king,  who  is  on  a  visit  to  Copenhagen. 

The  palace  is  entirely  modem  and  European.  The  young  queen 
was  gracious  ;  she  is  intelligent,  pleasing,  and  beautiful.  Speaking 
English  perfectly,  she  left  nothing  unsaid  which  she  could  have 
said  of  her  consideration  for  Mi*.  Seward,  or  of  appreciation  of  his 
visit  to  Greece.  And  she  expressed  herself  as  having  no  wish  so 
near  her  heart  as  that  of  seeing'  the  United  States — a  nation  whom 
her  father,  the  Grand-duke  Constantino  of  Eussia,  had  taught  her 
to  respect  and  admire. 

Grecian  ruins,  seen  so  soon  after  our  explorations  of  those  of 
Egypt  and  Hindostan,  suggest  the  reflection  that  in  the  early  age 
of  Egypt  human  labor  and  means  of  subsistence,  as  well  as  materials 
for  building,  were  plentiful  and  cheap,  while  the  edifices  to  be  con- 
structed were  only  temples  and  tombs.  At  the  same  time,  the  gov- 
ernment was  not  merely  absolute,  but  despotic.  Art  and  science 
had  not  been  taxed  to  discover  the  smallest  amount  of  materials  or 
labor  with  which  an  enduring  structure  could  be  built.  Under 
these  circumstances,  the  Egyptian  pyramids,  temples,  and  tombs, 
were  of  great  and  even  gigantic  dimensions.  The  Phoenicians,  the 
Jews,  and  the  Greeks,  coming  later,  found  the  necessity  for  econ- 
omy of  labor  and  materials,  while  the  greater  independence  of  the 
people  obliged  the  governments  to  practise  frugality,  and  to  perfect 
science  adapted  to  that  frugality.  The  Greeks,  therefore,  while 
they  gathered  their  models  from  Egj^t,  reduced  their  designs  from 
the  colossal  to  the  practical,  and  substituted,  for  massiveness,  orna- 
ment and  beauty.  Moreover,  architecture  and  the  arts  of  design, 
in  Egypt,  were  a  priestly  monopoly,  and  subject  to  exact  regula- 


THE   TEMPLE   OF  VICTORY. 


631 


tion — the  people  of  Egjrpt  had  no  share  in  them.  In  Greece,  the 
arts  passed  over  from  the  government  to  the  people,  and  became  a 
study,  a  pride,  and  a  profit,  in  which  all  the  citizens  could  share. 
As  it  is  apparent  that  Egypt  never  perfected  the  Grecian  work,  so 
it  is  equally  manifest  that  Greece  could  never  have  produced  the 
Pyramids,  Karnak,  or  the  Tombs  of  the  Kings.    Each  was  the  proper 


TUE  TEMPLE   OF   VICTORY,    ATHENS. 


work  of  a  distinct  stage  of  human  civilization.  Absurd  as  was  the 
mythology  of  ancient  Greece,  it  was,  nevertheless,  a  cheerful  and 
hopeful  religious  system,  while  that  of  Egypt  was  a  gloomy  and 
fearful  superstition.  Egyptian  architecture  and  arts  produced,  and 
were  designed  to  produce,  the  impression  of  terror  and  awe ;  they 
gave,  therefore,  no  scope  for  pleasing  lines  of  beauty,  for  delicate 


G32  EUROPE. 

traces  of  art,  or  for  tints  and  hues  of  coloring.  Grecian  architect- 
ure, on  the  contrary,  was  as  joyous  as  the  Greek  mythology. 
How  did  it  happen  that  the  freedom  and  the  power  of  ancient 
Greece  were  so  transient  ? 

It  was  due  to  the  fact  that  Greece,  being  subdivided  into  small 
states  and  islands,  mutually  jealous  of  each  other,  proved  incapable 
of  maintaining  one  central  national  authority  adequate  to  pro- 
tection against  dangers  from  without  or  security  against  revolu- 
tion within.  Greece  had  a  free,  intellectual,  and  enlightened  peo- 
ple. Their  philosophers,  orators,  and  statesmen,  seem  to  have  been 
conscious  of  this,  for  they  studied  less  the  glory  and  grandeur  of 
the  Greeks  themselves  than  the  universal  advancement  of  man- 
kind. For  this  they  have  their  reward.  Whatever  the  moderns 
have,  either  of  government,  science,  art,  or  literature,  all  confess 
that  it  is  traceable  to  the  Greeks.  Even  when  we  are  extending  the 
domain  of  science,  and  demanding  names  for  newly-discovered  sub- 
stances, powers,  forces,  and  qualities,  we  turn  unhesitatingly  to  the 
full  and  expansive  Greek  language  for  a  new  technology.  How 
little  the  ancient  Greeks  thought  that,  when  we  should  have  ac- 
quired the  power  of  compelling  the  lightning  to  transmit  our 
thoughts,  we  should  be  obliged  to  borrow  from  them  the  name  of 
the  instmment  of  communication  !  How  little  did  they  imagine 
that,  when  we  should  acc[uire  the  power  to  compel  the  sun  to  paint 
for  us,  we  should  resort  to  them  for  the  name  of  the  newly-invented 
instrument  and  art ! 

Modern  Greece  is  the  Mexico  of  Europe — new,  experimental, 
and  unreliable,  requiring  forbearance,  patience,  and  protection ; 
but,  having  all  these,  its  condition  is  hopeful.  It  has,  at  least,  got 
rid  of  Turkish  despotism  and  Mohammedan  superstition.  Greece 
will  probably  become  greater,  and  its  present  monarchy  may  be 
regarded  as  what  Lafayette  proposed  the  government  of  Louis 
Philippe  should  be — a  monarchy  surrounded  with  republican  insti- 
tutions, and  an  introduction  to  the  republic  itself. 

Constantinople.,  June  ^^th. — This  morning  we  were  in  the  Sea 
of  Marmora,  surrounded  by  beautiful  islands,  and  at  eleven  o'clock 


A  SINGULAR  RECEPTION.  633 

we  rounded  the  base  of  the  Seven  Towers  and  beheld  St.  Sophia's 
lofty  dome,  the  old  Seraglio,  the  new  Imperial  Palace,  and,  crossing 
the  mouth  of  the  Golden  Horn,  anchored  in  the  Bosporus  under 
the  crowded,  towering  shore  of  Pera, 

We  did  what  no  invader  could  have  done  in  the  time  of  Belisa- 
rius,  for  we  took  Constantinople  by  surprise.  Although  Mr.  Sew- 
ard came  as  an  invited  guest  of  the  Sultan,  and  although  the 
United  States  legation  had  corresponded  with  him  in  India  and 
Egypt  about  the  time  of  his  coming,  neither  crescent  nor  stars  and 
stripes  from  the  shore  answered  the  signal  which  waved  from  the 
mast-head  of  the  Wien.  What  could  it  mean  ?  We  lingered  an 
hour  on  the  deck.  A  mythical  person  presented  himself,  speaking 
very  imperfect  English,  and  informed  us  that  apartments  were,  to 
his  certain  knowledge,  provided  for  us  by  the  Government  at  the 
Hotel  d'Angleterre.  This  information  coincided  with  the  letter 
which  Mr.  Seward  had  received  when  in  China  from  Blacque  Bey, 
written  by  direction  of  the  grand-vizier.  Weary  of  the  sea,  and 
impatient  under  a  cold  shower  of  the  first  rain  we  had  experienced 
since  our  arrival  at  Calcutta  in  March,  we  availed  ourselves  of  the 
captain's  kindness,  and  went  ashore  in  his  gig.  Landing,  and  clam- 
bering over  heaps  of  stones,  we  took  shelter  from  the  rain  in  an 
open  shed  which  served  as  a  cafe  for  the  market-men  who  thronged 
the  beach.  Two  rickety  one-horse  carriages  were  all  that  could  be 
found  in  which  to  make  our  entrance.  We  secured  both.  Leaving 
one  of  them  to  the  servants,  we  three  passengers  crowded  ourselves 
into  the  other.  We  had  scarcely  commenced  our  ascent,  when  we 
collided  with  a  timber-cart  coming  down  the  same  steep,  narrow 
road.  Extricating  ourselves,  we  took  the  sidewalk,  and  proceeded 
safely  enough  until  the  overtaxed  horse  gave  out,  and  we  com- 
pleted our  journey  on  foot  in  the  drizzling  rain. 

We  reached  the  Hotel  d'Angleterre  unexpected  guests.  The 
telegraph  had  announced  that  we  would  come  to-morrow.  But 
the  keeper  of  the  hotel  would  do  his  best ;  he  was  sure  he  was  to 
entertain  us  on  behalf  of  the  Porte,  and  he  would  endeavor  to  do 
it  as  well  as  possible.  It  soon  turned  out  that  the  reception  which 
had  been  arranged  for  Mr.  Seward  fell  to  those  whom  we  had  left 


634  EUROPE. 

behind.  The  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  informed  of  the  United 
States  flag  raised  on  the  Wien,  dispatched  a  guard  of  honor  to  the 
wharf.  The  guard  met  the  servants  in  their  calash,  with  the  hig- 
gage  on  carts,  winding  their  way  to  the  imperial  custom-house. 
The  guard  divided  to  the  right  and  left,  and,  with  due  solemnity 
and  respect,  escorted  Jenny  Corell,  Arthur  Price,  and  WiHiam 
Freeman,  to  the  entrance  of  the  Hotel  d'Angleterre.  Half  an 
hour  afterward  the  grand-chamberlain,  and  the  United  States 
charge  d'affaires^  John  P.  Brown,  and  the  United  States  marshal, 
Mr.  Thompson,  arrived,  and  explanations  were  duly  made.  The 
telegraph  from  Athens,  announcing  that  we  had  sailed,  was  without 
date,  and  was  not  put  on  the  wire  until  we  were  passing  the  Hel- 
lespont, The  apology  offered  was  made  the  more  soothing  for  us 
by  the  statement  of  the  lord-chamberlain  that  precisely  the  same 
mistake  occurred  on  the  arrival  of  the  Empress  Eugenie  last  year. 
The  manner  of  the  contre-iemjps  was  difierent  in  the  two  cases.  In 
that  of  the  empress,  the  grand-vizier  with  his  war-steamer  went 
out  to  meet  the  French  imperial  frigate  on  which  she  was  coming. 
But,  unfortunately,  the  two  vessels  passed  each  other  unobserved, 
so  that  she  was  already  at  Constantinople  while  he  was  vainly  look- 
ing for  her  in  the  Sea  of  Marmora. 

"  All's  well,"  however,  "  that  ends  well !  "  The  Turkish  Gov- 
ernment had  subsequently  designated  another,  and  as  they  thought 
a  finer  hotel.  But,  Mr.  Seward  being  content  with  the  Hotel 
d'Angleterie,  especially  after  learning  that  our  host  was  the  "  Mys- 
seri "  of  Kinglake's  "  Eothen,"  we  remain  here. 

The  highest  effect  of  Constantinople  is  produced  by  its  tout  en- 
semble. It  has  many  different  and  noble  aspects  from  various  stand- 
points, but  in  every  case  the  whole  is  seen  at  once,  and  it  is  this 
whole  that  constitutes  the  marvellous  beauty  of  the  city. 

June  SOth. — Why  is  it  that  the  strongest  curiosity  of  travellers, 
even  of  republican  travellers  more  than  others,  is  to  see  princes  ? 
"Whatever  the  rearon  may  be,  this  is  not  only  a  secret  of  the  art  of 
history,  but  also  of  the  dramatic  art.  Hamlet  and  Lear  and  Richard 
are  all  the  more  interesting  for  being  princes. 


SEEIXG  THE   SULTAJT. 


635 


Altliougli  we  bad  no  reason  to  suppose  tliat  royalty  here,  more 
than  elsewhere,  would  conceal  its  visage  from  us,  yet  an  opportunity 
to  see  the  Sultan  Abdul-Aziz  in  a  pageant  to-day,  and  perhaps  on 
no  other  day,  was  not,  at  least  in  the  judgment  of  the  younger 
portion  of  our  party,  to  be  lost.  Successor  of  the  caliphs,  the 
Sultan  is  the  spiritual  as  well  as  temporal  head  of  Islam.  In  this 
character  he  goes  in  public  procession  from  his  palace  at  twelve 
o'clock  every  Friday,  either  on  horseback  or  in  a  barge,  to  offer 
prayers  for  the  faitliful  in  one  of  the  principal  mosques.  This  cus- 
tom is  one  of  very  ancient  standing,  and  is  mentioned  by  travellers 
among  the  Turks  as  early  as  the  fifteenth  century,  though  it  is  prob- 
ably even  much  older  than  that.  It  affords  an  opportunity  of  see- 
ing the  Sultan  of  which  nearly  all  strangers  avail  themselves.  We 
found  two  imperial  carriages  awaiting  us  at  the  door  of  our  hotel, 
and  in  them,  accompanied  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brown,  we  were  driven 
into  the  street  before  the  gate  of  the  imperial  residence.     Our  party 


ALBANIAN    COSTUME. 


was  not  recognized  among  the  many  curious  strangers  whose  car- 
riages thronged  the  way,  to  witness  the  pageant,  and  we  were 
nearly  an  hour  in  finding  a  suitable  stand.     The  palace  clock  had 


636  EUROPE. 

been  set  back,  and,  an  hour  and  a  half  after  high  noon  struck  the 
equivalent  of  twelve  in  Turkish  time,  Abdul- Aziz  issued  from  the 
gate,  dressed  in  the  magnificent  costume  which  is  equally  the  uni- 
form of  the  civil  and  military  service  of  Turkey.  He  was  mounted 
on  a  noble  white  Arabian  steed,  caparisoned  in  gold  and  velvet. 
A  squadron  of  cavalry,  with  a  sonorous  flourish  of  trumpets,  opened 
the  way,  and  another  covered  the  rear.  His  majesty  was  attended 
by  all  the  ministers  of  the  Porte  on  horseback,  and  surrounded  by 
a  guard  of  Albanian  officers  on  foot.  These  wore  jackets,  caps,  and 
gaiters,  of  maroon-velvet  and  gold,  and  full,  spotless  white  skirts 
reaching  the  knee — said  to  be  the  most  exquisite  costume  in  the 
world.  Their  shining,  silver  cimeters  and  pistols  are  worn  in  a 
broad  sash.  The  Sultan  is  a  stout,  well-formed  man,  forty-seven 
years  old,  with  a  pleasing  and  amiable  though  not  impressive  coun- 
tenance. His  hair  is  slightly  gray,  and  he  is  said  to  dislike  the 
national  fez,  which  he  wears  very  small.  He  rides  remarkably  well, 
like  a  soldier  accustomed  to  the  saddle.  His  bland  smile  when 
passing  our  carriages,  which  indeed  he  might  have  known  by  the 
imperial  livery  to  be  his  own,  indicated  to  Mr.  Brown  that  he  had 
the  honor  of  being  personally  recognized,  although  he  failed  in  the 
attempt  to  flatter  Mr.  Seward  with  the  belief  that  he  shared  in  that 
honor. 

Being  assured  that  the  presence  of  Christians  at  the  official  ser- 
vices of  the  mosque  would  be  popularly  regarded  as  intrusive  by  the 
Moslems,  it  only  remained  for  us  to  leave  the  ground  as  soon  as 
the  imperial  pageant  had  passed.  We  observed  that  not  only  the 
ministers,  but  the  military  officers,  and  even  our  excellent  friend 
Mr.  Brown,  betrayed  sentiments  of  awe  and  reverence  during  the 
progress;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  people  "  of  the  baser  sort," 
Turks  as  they  are,  manifested  neither  sympathy  with  the  proces- 
sion, nor  homage  for  the  sovereign,  but  were  as  free  and  indifi'erent 
in  their  demeanor  as  a  crowd  of  spectators  at  a  military  parade  in 
the  United  States. 

July  1st. — Mr.  Seward  has  had  a  busy  day.  He  has  exchanged 
visits  with  Server  Pacha,  Minister  of  Foreign  Aflfairs,  and  acting 


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grand-vizier,  in  the  place  of  Ali  Pacha,  who,  long  resisting,  has  at 
last  succumbed  under  an  illness  which  it  is  feared  will  be  fatal ;  also 
with  Kiamil  Pacha,  president  of  the  Council  of  State ;  and  the  Min- 
isters of  Justice  and  Commerce,  Cabruli  Pacha  and  Mounetaz 
Effendi.  He  was  received  by  these  functionaries  at  their  several 
offices  in  the  Divan,  and  entertained  there  with  very  agreeable  con- 
versation, and  the  customary  offerings  of  coffee  and  chibouque.  The 
conversation  did  not  go,  however,  beyond  expressions  compliment- 
ary to  Mr.  Seward,  and  highly  ajjpreciative  of  the  United  States. 
lie  thought  that  Turkish  politics,  so  deeply  interwoven  with  those 
of  European  powers,  are  probably  reserved  by  the  ministers  for  the 
treatment  of  the  great  statesman,  Ali  Pacha. 

The  Divan  is  a  large  and  spacious  European  structure,  superior 
to  any  public  edifice  of  the  same  sort  here,  or  to  any  that  we  have 
seen  throughout  the  East,  though  very  inferior  to  the  department 
buildings  at  Washington. 

By  the  courtesy  of  the  Government,  the  necessary  permits  for 
free  access  to  the  city  and  all  its  institutions  and  amusements  were 
sent  to  us  this  morning.  It  was  amusing  to  see  the  care  that  was 
taken  in  filling  up  the  dates  and  inserting  the  names  in  these 
printed  forms ;  a  banker  could  hardly  practise  more  care  in  draw- 
ing bills  of  exchange  to  guard  against  perversion  or  counterfeiting. 
We  understand  that  permits  to  view  the  mosques,  palaces,  and  mu- 
seums here,  are  usually  charged  with  a  fee  as  a  perquisite. 

We  have  made  several  excursions  around  the  city.  The  survey 
from  without,  at  whatever  point,  produces  the  same  impression, 
that  of  unmixed  admiration.  It  has  been  with  us  a  profound  study 
to  determine  what  it  is  that  constitutes  the  peculiar  and  surpassing 
efiect  of  Constantinople  as  a  great  and  magnificent  seat  of  com- 
merce and  empire.  Kature  has  invested  the  site  with  such  advan- 
tages in  this  respect  as  no  other  city  enjoys.  It  is  an  isthmus,  and 
a  narrow  one  at  that,  with  lofty  and  towering  but  graceful  eleva- 
tions, which  divide  two  great  seas,  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
Euxine,  and  two  great  continents,  Europe  and  Asia,  The  seas 
clasp  hands  between  the  continents,  which  smile  upon  each  other 
across  the  narrow  strait  of  the  fathomless,  blue-rolling  Bosporus. 


638  EUROPE. 

Wliat  would  otherwise  be  a  topographical  monotony  is  broken  by 
the  broad,  deep,  and  winding  channel  of  the  Golden  Horn,  which 
breaks  the  European  coast  into  two  not  unequal  parts,  with  banks 
on  either  side  as  green  and  gently  sloping  as  those  of  the  Bospo- 
rus. Constantinople,  not  diminutive  nor  contracted,  covers  plain, 
valley,  and  hill,  on  either  shore,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  with  a 
populous,  majestic  city.  You  take  no  notice  of  the  political,  mu- 
nicipal, or  geograj)hical  divisions  of  the  city :  though  the  portion 
south  of  the  Horn  and  west  of  the  Bosporus  is  designated  as  the 
ancient  Byzantium,  now  Stamboul  proper ;  and  tlie  portion  of  the 
city  north  of  it  and  west  of  the  Bosporus  as  Pera ;  and  the  por- 
tion which  occupies  the  eastern  bank  is  known  as  Scutari,  the 
ancient  Chrysopolis — yet  Stamboul,  Pera,  and  Scutari,  with  what- 
ever other  municipalities  or  suburbs  there  may  be,  are  merged 
altogether,  and  make  the  one,  great,  noble  city  of  Constantinople. 
From  whatever  new  point  of  view  you  look  at  the  panorama,  you 
feel  not  the  distant  but  the  immediate  presence  of  the  two  oceans 
and  of  the  two  continents.  Boston  merely  encircles  a  bay;  New 
York  graces  an  island  between  two  rivers ;  London  crowds  both  level 
banks  of  a  tame  and  turbid  river ;  Paris  merely  clusters,  like  Pome, 
upon  the  banks  of  a  narrow,  tideless  stream ;  Amsterdam  shuts  out 
the  sea  by  dikes,  making  for  itself  an  artificial  site ;  even  Venice, 
the  "  Queen  of  the  Adriatic,"  takes  refuge  from  it  in  a  shallow, 
marshy  bay;  while  Naples  is  content  with  occupying  an  amphithe- 
atre, nobly  beautiful  indeed,  but  still  a  circular  mountain-shore. 
But  Constantinople  has  the  deep,  great  sea  flowing,  not  only  near 
it  but  through  it.  The  sea,  elsewhere,  is  a  thing  of  dread — the  sea, 
at  Constantinople,  is  a  highway  of  commerce,  and  a  pleasure-lake. 
Although  dividing  the  city,  it  is  not  forced  out  by  wharves,  docks, 
or  piers,  on  either  side.  You  may  pass  from  the  steamship  to 
your  dwelling-place  on  the  greensward  of  your  garden ;  or  you 
may  enter  your  frail  caique  and  float  in  safety  on  the  deep  waters, 
which  at  the  same  time  are  bearing  by  the  most  majestic  ships  that 
man  can  build.  So  you  may,  from  the  same  pleasure-boat,  land  on 
either  green  shore  of  the  Bosporus  at  the  water's  edge,  or  wind 
your  way  among  the  fleets  riding  at  anchor  in  the  Golden  Horn. 


AN  ANCIENT  PILLAE. 


639 


It  is  this  peaceful  contact  of  two  continents,  witli  the  truce  be- 
tween an  old  and  a  new  ci^alization  in  the  Bosporus,  and  at  the 
same  time  a  control  of  two  seas,  both  relieved  of  their  terrors, 
while  retaining  always  their  placid  beauty,  that  mates  Constanti- 
nople the  most  delightful  place  in  the  world.  One  other  element 
enters  into  the  picture — the  streets  of  Constantinople  are  narrow, 


ANCIENT   PILLAE    AT   C0K8TANTIIIOPLE 


most  of  the  dwellings  and  shops  are  cheap  and  frail,  yet  these 
blemishes  are  overlooked  in  the  view  of  the  ever-admired  Oriental 


640 


EUROPE. 


city,  with  tlie  gleaming  towers,  domes,  and  minarets,  of  its  thou- 
sand palaces  and  mosques,  and  a  gorgeous  golden  sunlight  con- 


F« 


FOUNTAIN    OF   THE    SEKAGLIO. 


trasting  with  the  sparkling  blue  sea,  the  dark  cypress-groves  of 
Scutari,  and,  in  the  distance,  the  bright  islands  of  the  Marmora, 
and  the  snowy  peak  of  Olympus.  It  is  the  harmony  of  each  part 
with  the  whole  which  constitutes  the  nameless  beauty  of  the  scene. 
It  is  the  presence,  not  of  waters  diminutive  as  rivers,  nor  of  emi- 
nences diminutive  as  hills,  but  of  seas  and  mountains — not  of  the 
seas  and  mountains  of  one  country,  but  of  the  seas  and  mountains 
of  two  vast  and  diverse  continents. 

July  3d. — The  palace  of  Solyman  the  Magnificent,  seated  so 
gracefully  on  the  promontory  which  divides  the  Golden  Horn  from 
the  Bosporus,  was  the  chief  court  residence  of  the  Sultan  until 
seventy  or  eighty  years  ago.  Kow,  under  the  name  of  the  "  Old 
Seraglio,"  this  great  pile  has  been  converted  into  a  storehouse,  in 
which  are  deposited  the  regalia,  ornaments,  plate,  and  objects  of 
ve?'hi,  gathered  by  the  crown  since  the  time  of  the  caliphs.     The 


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FOURTH   OF  JULY.  QU 

collection  is  curious.  There  are  crowns,  tlirones,  nnis,  vases,  table 
furniture  and  ornaments,  plate,  clocks,  watches,  jewelry,  and  pre- 
cious stones,  all  of  costliest  material  and  most  elaborate  workman- 
ship, placed  in  cases,  apparently  without  arrangement  or  desig- 
nation of  date  or  history — a  treasure  which  Midas  might  covet, 
although  it  is  practically  useless.  It  was  only  as  an  act  of  special 
grace  that  we  were  admitted  to  the  alcoves  which  contained  the 
rich  library  and  manuscripts  belonging  to  the  Government.  They 
are  watched  with  the  utmost  care,  since  the  Government  thinks  it 
has  had  reason  to  believe  that  some  foreign  states  have  tried  by 
indirect  means  to  abstract  some  of  them. 

Juli/  4th. — Although  the  celebration  of  our  national  indepen- 
dence has  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  commonplace  affair  at  home,  it 
is  an  enjoyment  which  citizens  of  the  United  States  cannot  forego 
without  reluctance  when  abroad. 

We  repaired  this  morning,  in  accordance  with  an  invitation,  to 
Kobert  College,  an  American  university  for  the  education  of  Turk- 
ish youths,  founded  by  the  liberality  of  Christopher  E,.  Robert,  of 
New  York.  Twelve  years  ago  the  Turkish  Government  conceded 
the  site,  which  is  the  most  commanding  one  on  the  Bosporus. 
But  Mussulman  jealousies  caused  delay  in  confirming  the  conces- 
sion. A  long  and  sometimes  unpleasant  discussion,  which  occuiTed 
on  the  subject  between  the  two  Governments,  was  happily  brought 
to  an  end  during  the  closing  year  of  Mr.  Seward's  ofiicial  term  in 
the  Department  of  State. 

The  firman  having  been  issued,  two  years  sufficed  for  building 
an  edifice  adequate  to  the  accommodation  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  students.  Dr.  Hamlin,  who  has  had  sole  charge  of  the  enter- 
prise, is  president,  with  a  faculty  of  eleven  professors,  and  already 
there  are  one  himdred  and  twenty-five  students.  The  Fourth  of 
July  was  chosen  by  President  Hamlin  to  commemorate  the  com- 
pletion of  this  important  work  with  due  acknowledgments  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  and  the  Government  of  Turkey 
for  their  favor  and  patronage.  Mr.  Seward's  an^ival  at  this  junc- 
ture and  Blacque  Bey's  presence  at  Constantinople  were  regarded 


642  EUROPE. 

as  fortunate  coincidences  of  the  celebration.  After  a  long  drive  by 
the  side  of  the  Bosporus  and  over  its  eminences,  we  espied  the 
United  States  flag  waving  from  the  college.  The  president,  faculty, 
and  students,  with  the  United  States  citizens  residing  at  Constan- 
tinople, received  Mr.  Seward,  and,  having  been  severally  presented 
to  him  on  the  veranda,  attended  him  in  procession  to  the  recep- 
tion-hall. A  dinner,  provided  by  the  American  residents,  was 
served — the  first  public  entertainment  of  the  kind  ever  known  on 
the  shores  of  the  Bosporus.  And  so  the  ivy-crowned,  castellated 
towers  near  by,  which,  in  1453,  forty  years  before  the  discovery  of 
America,  poured  forth  the  invading  army  who  subverted  Chris- 
tianity in  the  empire  and  established  Moslem  despotism  in  Stam- 
boul,  now  were  witnesses  of  the  celebration  of  an  event  which  is  a 
sure  guarantee  of  rehgious  as  well  as  political  regeneration  of  so- 
ciety throughout  the  world. 

Dr.  Hamlin  presided  at  one  of  the  two  tables,  which  was  deco- 
rated with  the  stars  and  stripes  ;  while  Blacque  Bey,  by  the  leave 
and  with  the  instruction  of  the  Divan,  presided  at  the  other  under 
a  canopy  formed  by  the  crescent  flag  of  the  Turkish  Empire.  The 
guests  were  Americans,  with  their  families  ;  Turks,  of  course,  with- 
out theirs  ;  and  the  body  of  students,  among  whom  were  repre- 
sentatives from  every  province  in  the  empire,  as  well  as  from  Per- 
sia, Greece,  and  the  islands  of  the  Levant. 

Dr.  Hamlin  closed  a  spirited  oration  with  congratulations  to 
Mr.  Seward  on  his  arrival  in  Constantinople,  and  thanks  for  the 
interest  in  the  college  which  he  had  manifested.  Mr.  Seward  an- 
swered in  a  manner  which  seemed  to  awaken  deep  sensibility 
among  his  own  countrymen,  while  the  natives  of  the  East  listened 
with  surprise  and  pleasure  to  a  free  exercise  of  speech  for  the  first 
time  in  their  lives. 

Blacque  Bey  and  Mr.  Brown  followed  with  speeches  which  were 
pleasing  and  appropriate  in  their  allusions  to  Mr.  Seward,  Bobert 
College,  and  the  relations  between  Turkey  and  the  United  States. 
"^Vlien  the  exercises  closed,  the  assemblao;e  attended  Mr.  Seward 
to  his  carriage,  and  parted  from  him  with  cheers  for  himself,  for 
the  Union,  for  the  Turkish  Empire,  and  for  Bobert  College. 


THE  BOSPORUS. 


643 


July  Dth. — Tlie  Minister  of  the  Navy,  Malimoiid  Paclia,  sent  a 
steamer  tlais  morning  for  the  excnrsion  on  the  Bosporus,  indispen- 
sable to  a  true  knowledge  of  Constantinople.  We  displayed  the 
United  States  flag  by  the  side  of  the  red  banner  of  the  Turks. 

The  Bosporus  is  a  channel,  which,  taking  no  note  of  municipal 
divisions,  traverses  the  entire  length  of  the  capital ;  but  such  a 
channel  as  no  human  hands  could  make.     AVhile  it  is  tideless,  it 


TUBKISH   TVOMAX   IN   STREET   DEESS. 


nevertheless  has  the  breadth  of  the  East  River  at  ]N'ew  York,  and 
a  depth  practically  unfathomable.  Its  waters,  from  the  Black  Sea 
to  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  have  a  current  averaging  two  or  three  miles 
an  hour,  but  increased  at  some  points  to  four  miles  by  jutting 
promontories  or  converging  shores.  The  city  and  suburbs  are 
spread,  though  not  equally,  over  the  two  lofty  and  gently-rising 
banks,  and  a  hostile  ship-of-M'ar  moving  through  the  Golden  Horn 


644  EUROPE. 

and  the  Bosporus  could  shell  and  destroy  not  only  every  warehouse 
on  the  bank,  but  every  palace,  mosque,  and  villa,  in  the  entire  city. 
The  Government  has  a  high  appreciation  of  the  Bosporus  as  an  or- 
nament of  the  capital.  It  carefully  prohibits  the  use  of  its  shores 
for  offensive  trades,  avocations,  or  manufactories,  and  they  are,  con- 
sequently, embellished  with  the  finest  public  institutions,  palaces, 
and  villas.  Every  man  of  the  wealthier  class,  besides  his  winter 
dwelling  in  Stamboul,  Pera,  or  Scutari,  has  his  villa  and  wherry  on 
the  verdant  bank  of  the  BosjDorus,  and  steps  from  his  porch  to  his 
barge,  while  his  garden  hangs  on  the  hill-side.  All  the  foreign 
ministers  and  consuls  have  their  villas  here,  and,  in  ascending  the 
Bosporus,  we  received  the  salute  of  many  national  flags. 

In  Japan  all  the  women  whom  the  traveller  sees,  aside  from  the 
music-girls,  are  repulsive.  In  China  the  women  seen  are  painted 
and  distorted  ;  in  India,  woman  seems  to  have  no  existence  at  all ; 
in  Egy[)t  and  Syria,  if  she  appears  in  public,  she  is  hideously  veiled. 
Until  lately,  it  was  so  in  Constantinople.  We  have  met  to-day 
many  groups  of  Circassian  women  listlessly  reclining  in  their  gayly- 
cushioned,  canopied  caiques,  on  the  Bosporus,  as  we  have  met 
them  before  in  our  walks  and  drives  on  shore.  They  seem  greatly 
to  enjoy  this  freedom,  and  are  often  accompanied  by  musicians 
under  the  surveillance  of  the  inevitable  eunuchs.  These  women 
are  richly  dressed,  in  habits  of  brightly-colored  silk  which  ajjproxi- 
mate  to  the  European  costume,  and  their  thin  white  veils,  which 
cover  their  faces,  leave  exposed,  with  bewitching  efiect,  eyes  and 
eyebrows,  the  latter  delicately  painted.  We  have  passed  a  ♦thou- 
sand harems  on  our  voyage  to-day,  and  if  any  woman  looked  upon 
us  she  would  only  have  done  so  through  the  close  lattice  of  her 
balcony.  Yerily,  the  Mohammedan  is  a  "comfortable  doctrine" 
for  the  stronger  sex.  For,  while  women  are  thus  carefully  secluded, 
every  piazza  and  window  on  either  side  of  the  Bosporus  is  filled 
with  Turks  in  groups,  in  pairs,  and  single,  sitting  cross-legged  or 
lounging  on  divans,  surveying  the  passers-by  through  fumes  of 
chibouque  or  hookah,  and  over  uncounted  glasses  of  sherbet. 

After  this  excursion  we  can  no  longer  wonder  at  the  cautious 
jealousy  with  which  the  Ottoman  Porte  insists  upon  holding  the 


A  TURKISH  GIRL. 


645 


Bosporus  as  a  closed  sea.  Unlike  any  other  strait  of  the  world, 
the  Bosporus,  with  its  termini  in  the  Sea  of  Marmora  and  the 
Black  Sea,  would  open  to  all  nations,  rivals  or  enemies  as  well  as 


TtTBKISn  GIRL   IN   A   HAREM. 


friends,  a  navigation  not  only  through  the  very  heart  of  the  capital, 
but*  through  the  very  heart  of  the  empire. 

The  Bosporus,  therefore,  while  it  is  an  ornament,  is  a  constant 
peril,  and  a  constraint  upon  the  national  independence.  Nor  is  it 
to  be  supposed  that  the  Ottoman  Government  fails  to  understand 
that  its  political  and  religious  institutions,  customs,  and  manners, 
encounter  the  prejudices  of  all  the  Christian  nations,  and  that  the 
chief  security  for  peace  with  each  lies  in  the  ineradicable  ambitions 
of  the  great  states  of  Europe. 

The  banks  of  the  Bosporus  are  not  without  the  appearance  of 
militaiy  defences,  which,  however,  seem  wellnigh  worn  to  pieces 


6Jb6  EUROPE. 

with  age.     The  shores,  as  you  approach  the  Black  Sea,  present  a 
succession  of  barracks  and  encampments  well  filled  with  soldiers. 
The  chief  protection  of  the  passage  consists  of  a  navy  of  twenty 
iron-clad  steam-frigates,  all  of  which  are  kept  constantly  in  com- 
mission.    Besides  these  the  Government  has  in  its  employ  a  very 
intelligent  American  engineer  of  the  late  Confederate  Army  of  the 
United  States,  who  is  providing  the  harbor  at  all  points  with  tor- 
pedoes.    By-the-way,  the  occasion  of  our  first  acquaintance  with 
this  gentleman  has  afforded  us  much  amusement.     While  we  were 
waiting  at  the  navy-yard  this  morning,  for  our  steamer,  and  Mr. 
Seward  was   in   conversation  with   the    admiral  in  command,  an 
officer  in  Turkish  uniform  stood  near  whom  we  recognized  as  an 
American,  despite  his  fez  and  laced  coat.     Approaching,  at  Mr. 
Seward's  request,  the  officer  said  that  he  was  pleased  to  have  an 
introduction  to  him,  but  had  not  ventured  to  pay  his  respects  to 
him  on  account  of  political  associations  at  home.     He  remarked 
that  the  last  time  he  had  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  Mr.  Seward 
was  when  he  himself  was  attending  the  Confederate  "  peace  com- 
missioners," Hunter,  Stephens,  and  Campbell,  in  the  conference  at 
Hampton  Eoads,  with  President  Lincoln  and  his  Secretary  of  State. 
Mr.  Seward  laughingly  said  that  he  inferred,  from  the  captain's 
present  employment,  that  he  might  have  been  engaged  in  blowing 
Tip  the  United  States  commissary  storehouse  at  City  Point.     The 
handsome  Southerner  owned  to  the  "  soft  impeachment,"  but  he 
protested  that  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  shelling,  from  "  How- 
lett  House  Battery,"  of  the  River  Queen,  which  was  conveying 
Mr.  Seward,  with  General  Grant  and  General  Butler,  to  the  signal- 
tower  and  Dutch  Gap  Canal. 

July  Wh. — Shooting  almost  directly  across  the  Bosporus,  we  en- 
tered a  paved  court  just  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  from  it  the 
majestic  gate  of  another  palace.  This  edifice  has  just  now  been 
finished,  and  has  not  yet  been  occupied.  It  is  known  as  the  "New 
Palace."  The  Turkish  architect,  educated  in  Europe,  attended  us, 
and  furnished  us  with  photographs  of  every  part  of  the  building. 
The  style  is  a  successful  combination  of  the  Greek  with  the  ara- 


THE   TURKISH   CABINET.  647 

besque  architecture  and  ornamentation  of  tlie  Alliambra.  We 
doubt  if  there  is  even  in  Europe  a  pahitial  residence  so  extensive 
and  magnificent.  Like  the  marble  court  of  the  Great  Mogul,  with 
its  "  peacock  throne "  and  roof  of  silver,  this  new  palace  cannot 
foil  to  impress  the  visitor  with  a  sense  of  the  despotic  authority  and 
nurestrained  luxury  of  its  possessor.  A  fine  feature  of  the  Xew 
Palace  is  its  immense,  central,  circular  audience-chamber,  which  is 
so  arranged  that  the  occupant,  looking  through  corridors  at  right 
angles  with  each  other,  has  an  outer  prospect  on  each  of  the  four 
sides  of  the  palace,  and  yet  the  arrangement  is  such  that  these 
corridors  neither  cut  oif  access  to  any  of  the  chambers,  drawing- 
rooms,  or  other  apartments,  nor  in  the  least  interfere  with  their 
proper  use.  After  here  partaking  of  a  sumptuous  breakfast,  we 
resumed  our  yacht,  and  returned  to  the  hotel. 

July  %th. — ^Ir.  Seward  returned  to-day  the  visits  of  the  several 
members  of  the  cabinet.  They  seemed  to  set  a  high  value  on  their 
iron-clad  and  torpedo  defences,  and  expressed  much  desire  that  Mr. 
Seward  should  see  them.  In  their  conversation  on  foreign  topics, 
they  spoke  of  France  and  England  as  the  remotest  points  in  their 
political  horizon,  and  of  the  United  States  as  being  inaccessible 
beyond  it.  The  United  States  to  them  are  simply  a  wonder  ;  they 
wish  to  know  by  what  process  it  was  that  a  nation  so  new  had 
grown  to  such  a  stature.  Just  beginning,  as  they  are,  to  think  of 
building  railroads,  they  are  amazed  when  told  that  the  United 
States  have  already  built  fifty-five  thousand  miles  of  railroad,  and 
that  they  add  annually  five  thousand  more. 

Mr.  Seward  found  here,  as  throughout  the  East,  a  complef  e  con- 
viction on  the  part  of  the  cabinet  that,  whatever  else  the  United 
States  can  do,  they  are  incapable  of  practising  injustice  toward 
foreio-n  nations. 


'O" 


July  10th. — Soon  after  we  arrived  here,  Mr.  Seward  was  in- 
formed that  he  would  be  received  by  the  Sultan  on  a  day  to  be 
appointed,  and  that  on  another  day  he  would  be  entertained  by 
Kiamil  Pacha,  president  of  the  Council  of  State.     On   Saturday, 


C48  EUROPE. 

tlie  Sell,  came  the  invitation  to  breakfast  witli  Kiamil  Pacha  at 
eleven  o'clock  to-day  at  his  palace  high  up  the  Bosporus.  It  was 
announced  that  Mr.  Seward,  with  a  party  of  gentlemen,  would  be 
entertained  by  Kiamil  Pacha,  and  that  the  ladies  would  be  similarly 
entertained  in  the  harem.  The  invitation  was,  of  course,  accepted. 
On  Sunday,  at  noon,  came  Mr.  Brown,  our  charge  cf  affaires,  bearing 
a  communication  from  the  Sultan,  inviting  Mr.  Seward  to  an  au- 
dience at  his  palace,  doion  the  Bosporus,  at  two  o'clock  to-day.  It 
was  seen  at  once  that  the  two  appointments  might  conflict,  but  it  is 
the  usage  of  courts  that  a  sovereign's  request  is  imperative  ;  and  so 
the  Sultan's  invitation  was  also  accepted,  but  urider  the  expectation 
that  Kiamil  Pacha's  would  be  withdrawn.  This,  however,  did  not 
happen  ;  so  there  seemed  nothing  left  for  us  to-day  but  to  endeavor 
to  fulfil  both  engagements.  The  ladies,  having  learned  at  Cairo 
the  customs  of  the  harem,  had  prepared  toilets  which  they  hoped 
would  make  them  presentable  at  the  breakfast,  Kiamil  Pacha  being 
one  of  the  wealthiest  men  of  the  empire,  and  now,  during  the  re- 
tirement of  Ali  Pacha,  prime-minister,  and  his  wife  being  the  sister 
of  the  Khedive  of  Eg}^)t.  Taking  the  well-manned,  graceful 
caique  of  the  United  States  legation,  accompanied  by  Blaccpie  Bey 
with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brown,  at  ten  o'clock,  and  rowing  hard  against 
the  current,  we  arrived  at  the  grand  staircase  of  the  villa  of  Kiamil 
Pacha  at  eleven  o'clock.  On  entering  the  grand  salon,  it  was  a  sur- 
prise that  neither  Kiamil  Pacha,  nor  any  other  pacha,  nor  effendi, 
nor  any  other  person,  appeared  to  receive  us.  .  Blacque  Bey  went 
to  explore,  and  returned,  telling  us  that  Kiamil  Pacha  was  wait- 
ing in  an  adjoining  apartment  to  conduct  the  ladies  to  the  harem. 
They  followed  Blacque  Bey  through  a  large  antechamber,  and  then 
through  a  long  corridor,  at  the  foot  of  which  he  presented  them  to 
Kiamil  Pacha,  a  man  about  sixty,  of  commanding  presence,  with 
piercing  black  eyes,  white  hair,  and  long,  pointed  beard  and  mus- 
tache. He  was  dressed  in  a  flowing  dressing-gown  of  rich  w^hite 
silk,  and  yellow  Turkish  slippers.  He  apologized  for  being  eQi  des- 
hahille,  which,  indeed,  seemed  to  us  rather  extraordinary.  He  now 
called  a  deformed  Nubian,  and,  after  some  explanations  in  Turkish, 
unintelligible  to  us,  this  black  custodian  hobbled  away,  and  re- 


A  COOL  EECEPTIOX.  649 

turned  with  two  white  slave-girls.  New  explanations  having  been 
given  to  the  slaves,  they  in  their  turn  disappeared  for  a  time,  and 
then  came  back  with  two  more.  Kiamil  Pacha  now  retired.  The 
Nubian  led  the  way,  and  the  ladies,  attended  by  the  four  slave- 
women,  were  ushered  into  a  large,  pleasant  room,  furnished  in  the 
Oriental  manner — that  is,  with  luxurious  divans  along  its  sides,  and 
low,  downy  cushions  of  yellow  damask ;  bright  Persian  rugs  on 
the  floor,  lace  curtains  at  the  windows,  and  a  table  in  the  centre  of 
the  room,  covered  with  porcelain  and  glass  vases  and  other  orna- 
ments, but  no  books,  music,  pictures,  or  statuary,  were  to  be  seen. 
Fifteen  minutes  had  elapsed  when  a  lady  entered,  accompanied  by 
six  slave-girls.  She  was  quite  iMite^  perhaps  forty-five  years  old, 
and  was  dressed  in  a  simple  white-muslin  gown,  with  a  single  band 
of  blue  tulle  on  her  head,  fastened  with  an  enormous  sapphire,  the 
only  ornament  she  wore.  Acknowledging  the  presence  of  her 
guests  only  by  a  distant  inclination  of  the  head,  she  seated  herself 
on  a  divan,  drawing  her  slippered  feet  under  her,  and  embracing 
her  white  poodle-dog.  She  spoke  not,  and  seemed  absorbed  in 
scanning,  with  no  happy  expression,  the  elaborate  toilets  of  her 
morning  visitors.  They,  of  course,  said  nothing,  for  the  lady- 
princess  had  not  condescended  to  announce  herself,  or  to  be  an- 
nounced by  eunuch  or  slave.  Mrs.  Brown  speaks  Turkish  fluently, 
but  her  attempts  to  win  the  hostess  into  conversation  were  fruitless, 
and  there  was  "silence"  in  the  harem  for  half  the  time  that  St. 
John  at  Patmos  marked  the  period  of  "  silence  in  heaven."  But  it 
was  an  ominous  silence.  The  princess  then  proceeded  to  interro- 
gate her  Occidental  visitors  after  the  fashion  of  the  Orient :  "  How 
old  are  you  ?  "  "  Have  you  any  brothers  or  sisters  %  "  "  How 
many  ?  "  "  How  old  are  they  % "  "  Wliere  do  you  come  from  %  " 
Then,  with  great  surprise  :  "  Why  do  you  come  so  far  from  home  ; 
how  can  you  fatigue  yourselves  so  much  ? "  "  Why  do  you  not 
stop  and  rest?"  And,  finally,  as  if  giving  utterance  to  the  dis- 
pleasure too  long  suppressed  :  "  Wky  did  you  come  here  in  such  a 
hurry  this  morning,  and  give  us  no  time  to  dress  ?  " 

This  conversation  was  only  interrupted  by  pufis  of  smoke  from 
cigarettes,  which  were  successively  served  to  her  from  a  jewelled 

49 


650  EUROPE. 

case  by  a  Circassian  slave-girl.  Encouraged  by  licr  freedom,  the 
visitors  essayed  speecb  in  their  turn.  They  said,  "We  understood 
that  vre  had  the  honor  of  being  expected  here  this  morning ; "  to 
which  the  princess  replied,  "I  know  nothing  about  it."  The 
ladies  expressed  their  regret,  but  said  the  gentlemen  must  have 
made  some  mistake.  She  again  replied,  "  I  know  nothing  about 
it."     Turnins:  this  extraordinary  conversation,  the  visitors  asked  : 

"  How  do  you  amuse  yourself?  " 

"  I  look  at  the  Bosporus,  and  smoke." 

"  'Wliat  is  the  name  of  your  pretty  dog  ?  " 

"  He  has  no  name." 

"  How  do  you  call  him  ?  " 

"  I  say,  '  Dog.'  " 

Chibouques,  coffee,  and  sweetmeats,  being  now  served,  conver- 
sation ended,  and  the  ladies  were  invited  to  examine  the  furniture 
and  ornaments  around  them.  During  this  time  two  other  Turkish 
ladies  entered  and  joined  the  princess  on  the  divan,  while  the 
number  of  slave-girls  increased  to  fifty — many  of  them  very  pretty 
and  interesting,  by  their  gentle  ways.  The  princess  commanded 
one  of  the  mrls  to  sinir.  She  seated  herself  on  the  floor  and  exe- 
cuted  a  plaintive  recitative,  accompanying  herself  with  a  lute,  the 
strinss  of  which  she  struck  with  a  tortoise-shell  wand.  It  was 
whispered  to  the  visitors  that  the  two  Turkish  ladies  were  guests 
of  the  Princess  Kiamil ;  and  when,  after  what  seemed  an  hour, 
Kiamil  Pacha  was  heard  approaching  the  apartment,  they  hid 
themselves  behind  the  curtains  with  some  confusion  and  precipi- 
tation. The  princess  now  rose  and  extended  her  beautiful  little 
hands  to  her  guests,  to  be  kissed,  and  the  foreign  ladies  took  their 
leave,  and,  joining  Kiamil  Pacha,  now  completely  arrayed  in  his 
official  dress,  returned  with  him  to  the  salon,  where  they  found  Mr. 
Seward  and  the  other  gentlemen  awaiting  them. 

During  the  absence  of  the  ladies,  Kiamil  Pacha  had  explained 
to  Mr.  Seward  the  contre-temps  which  had  occurred.  Server  Pa- 
cha, the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  on  receiving  the  Sultan's 
command  that  Mr.  Seward  should  be  presented  to-day,  had  as- 
sumed that  that  gentleman  would  be  unable  to  keep  his  engage- 


A  TURKISH  BREAKFAST.  651 

mciit  for  the  morning  with  Kiamil  Pacha,  and  had  given  notice  to 
Kiainil  Pacha  to  that  effect,  but  had  omitted  to  inform  Mr.  Seward. 
So  it  turned  out  that  while,  with  sharpened  appetites  and  pressed 
for  time,  we  were  wondering  why  we  had  no  breakfast,  Kiamil  Pa- 
cha and  his  wife  were  equally  wondering  that  we  had  come  there 
for  one.  A  breakfast  did  come,  however.  In  the  acting-premier's 
palace,  Asiatic  forms  and  customs  are  confined  to  the  harem.  He 
vigorously  extemporized  a  party,  consisting  of  three  European 
ministers  and  several  secretaries.  The  entertainment  was  served 
in  a  spacious  room  gorgeously  furnished,  the  windows  of  which 
open  on  apparently  illimitable  gardens,  fountains,  and  grottos. 
The  conversation  was  free  and  spirited,  and  was  chiefly  on  Euro- 
pean public  questions,  always  with  kind  and  appreciative  allusions 
to  the  United  States.  Once  it  took  the  turn  of  converting  English 
and  Spanish  proverbs  into  Oriental  forms  and  idioms,  which  exag- 
gerate compliments,  with  a  decided  loss  of  terseness  of  expression. 

Kiamil  Pacha  was  vivacious  and  courteous.  He  asked  Mr. 
Seward  what  salary  he  received  as  Secretary  of  State.  Mr.  Sew- 
ard having  answered  eight  thousand  dollars,  in  coin  or  currency, 
as  the  case  might  be,  the  announcement  of  a  sum  so  small  was  re- 
ceived with  laughter  and  surprise.  He  then  ventured  to  ask  Kia- 
mil Pacha,  not  what  his  salary  as  head  of  the  ministry  is,  but  what 
are  his  oflScial  expenses.  The  minister  answered,  giving  a  sum  in 
piasters  which  exceeds  our  power  of  arithmetical  expression,  but 
which  is  the  equivalent  of  thirty  thousand  dollars  per  month.  Mr. 
Seward  rejoined  that  old  countries  are  the  ones  for  ministers  of 
state,  bishops,  and  muftis. 

The  breakfast  was  served  d  la  fourchette^  and  consisted  of  sev- 
eral delicious  courses  of  French  and  native  dishes,  which  were  cut 
off  in  the  midst  by  an  abrupt  call  for  th.ej)illau,  the  Turkish  native 
dish  which  invariably  crowns  and  ends  a  feast. 

At  half-past  one,  Mr.  Seward,  attended  by  Blacque  Bey  and 
Mr.  Brown,  landed  at  the  wharf  of  the  Imperial  Palace.  After 
waiting,  in  the  office  of  a  secretary,  until  the  appointed  hour,  they 
proceeded,  through  the  garden  in  front  of  the  palace,  to  the  grand 
entrance.     Here  Blacque  Bey  turned  away,  and  the  secretary  con- 


652  EUROPE. 

ducted  Mr.  Seward  and  Mr.  Brown  through  a  long  series  of  ante- 
chambers until  they  reached  a  small  apartment  plainly  furnished. 
The  Sultan  was  seen  standing  near  the  centre  of  it.  The  secretary 
obsequiously  kneeled,  and  remained  in  that  position,  Mr.  Seward 
and  Mr.  Brown  standing.  Without  making  or  waiting  for  a  salu- 
tation, the  Sultan  pointed  to  chairs  and  invited  the  guests  to  sit ; 
then,  drawing  another  chair,  he  sat  down  at  Mr.  Seward's  side. 
The  secretary  now  rose  to  assume  the  office  of  interpreter.  His 
Majesty  made  the  usual  inquiries  concerning  Mr.  Seward's  health, 
the  time  he  had  been  abroad,  and  the  countries  in  which  he  had 
travelled.  He  made  no  allusion  to  India  or  Egypt,  but  asked  many 
curious  questions  concerning  Japan  and  China — their  condition, 
political  state,  and  prospects.  Then  he  expressed  much  gratifica- 
tion with  Mr.  Seward's  visit  to  Turkey,  and  a  hope  that  his  stay  in 
Constantinople  had  been  made  comfortable  and  agreeable  to  him. 
Mr.  Seward  thanked  him  for  the  marks  of  consideration  with  which 
he  had  been  honored  from  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  the  Turkish 
dominions,  and  for  the  hospitality  and  courtesy  of  which  he  had 
been  the  recipient  at  the  capital. 

The  Sultan  replied  that  these  attentions  were  justly  due  to  him, 
as  an  eminent  man  of  a  great  nation. 

Mr.  Seward  said  that  "  the  late  civil  and  severe  war  in  the  Uni- 
ted States  had  tried  the  forbearance  and  fidelity  of  foreign  friends 
and  allies ;  that  Turkey  had  been  first  and  foremost  of  all  in  that 
great  trial,  and  that  her  faithful  friendship  was  appreciated  by  his 
Government  and  countrymen." 

The  Sultan  said :  "  It  is  the  desire  of  Turkey  to  be  at  peace  with 
all  the  Western  nations,  and  she  takes  pleasure  in  acknowledging 
the  prosperity,  greatness,  and  increasing  influence  of  the  United 
States,  which  has  always  been  a  just  nation."  The  Sultan  con- 
tinued these  remarks,  saying  that  Turkey  is  behind  Western  na- 
tions in  social  progress,  but  that  he  hoped  Mr.  Seward  had  discov- 
ered, since  coming  here,  that  he  (the  Sultan)  is  making  decisive 
efforts  to  advance  the  country  in  that  direction. 

Mr.  Seward  said :  "  I  need  not  have  come  here  to  see  this,  but 
I  am  grateful,  since  T  have  come,  to  find  my  previous  information 


A  SEA-SICK  SULTAK  653 

confirmed.  You  have  established  law  and  order,  with  entire  lib- 
erty of  conscience,  throughout  the  empire.  I  have  seen  two  rail- 
roads, and  travelled  on  them.  I  see  new  roads  and  improvements 
going  on  everywhere  in  Constantinople." 

Mr.  Seward's  assurances  of  Blacque  Bey's  success  in  conducting 
very  difficult  and  delicate  affairs  at  Washington  evidently  gave 
the  Sultan  much  satisfaction. 

His  Majesty  spoke  with  so  much  interest  concerning  our  coun- 
try, that  Mr.  Seward  asked  whether,  in  case  he  should  again  go  to 
the  West,  he  would  not  think  it  worth  his  while  to  extend  his  jour- 
ney to  the  United  States. 

The  Sultan,  shaking  his  head,  answered  with  a  smile,  that  the 
German  Ocean  made  him  so  sick,  that  he  determined  never  to  go 
to  sea  again. 

Mr.  Seward  replied,  "  The  Atlantic  is  certainly  not  so  gentle  as 
some  of  the  seas,  but  the  German  Ocean  is  the  worst  of  them  all." 

The  Sultan  showed  an  accurate  knowledge  of  Mr.  Seward's 
occupations  in  the  capital  from  the  moment  of  his  arrival,  and  drew 
from  him,  by  polite  interrogatories,  the  impressions  he  had  received 
concerning  the  iron-clads,  arsenals,  navy-yards,  barracks,  hospitals, 
and  especially  the  new  palace,  which  we  visited  yesterday.  At 
times,  when  a  pause  occurred,  the  Sultan,  turning  his  eyes  toward 
the  Bosporus,  would  call  up  some  new  topic,  and  so  the  audience 
was  protracted  for  an  hour.  It  closed  with  expressions  of  good 
wishes  for  Mr.  Seward's  health,  and  the  safe  and  happy  prosecution 
of  his  voyage,  which  is  to  be  resumed  to-morrow. 

Black  Sea,  July  Wth. — William  J.  McAlpine,  a  distinguished 
American  engineer,  and  an  old  friend,  with  his  family,  met  us  at 
Constantinople, -and  is  accompanying  us  on  our  voyage  as  far  as 
Orsova,  on  the  Danube.  Our  last  view  of  Constantinople  was  from 
the  deck  of  an  Australian  Lloyd's  steamer  on  the  Bosporus. 

We  might  count  the  number  of  flags  which  waved  us  farewell 
from  the  balconies  of  Robert  College,  but  not  the  number  of  boyish 
voices  which  greeted  us  with  parting  cheers. 


CHAPTEE  II. 

HUNGARY  AND  AUSTRIA. 

On  the  Danube. — Yarna. — Rustchuk. — Wallachia. — German  Travellers. — What  shall 
we  say  of  Turkey  ? — Reflections  on  the  Future  of  the  Turks. — Orsova. — The  Iron 
Gate. — Hungarian  Loyalty. — Buda-Pesth. — Contrast  of  European  and  Asiatic  Civil- 
ization.—The  People  of  Pesth.— The  Bridge  of  Buda.— The  Buildings  of  Buda.— 
The  History  of  Hungary. — The  Danube. — Vienna. — John  Jay. — Count  Von  Beust. — 
Politics  of  Austria. 

On  the  Danube,  July  12th. — "We  awoke  this  morning  in  the 
harbor  of  Yarna,  one  of  the  seaports  of  Turkey  in  Europe,  and  the 
capital  of  Roumelia.  The  town  acquired  great  importance  from 
being  the  principal  scene  of  Omar  Pacha's  military  and  naval 
operations  in  the  Crimean  War.  It  has  since  that  time,  however, 
acquired  greater  importance  of  another  kind.  The  Danube,  ap- 
proaching the  Black  Sea,  takes  a  northeasterly  direction,  dividing  its 
flood  into  three  channels.  The  mouths  of  these  channels  are  much 
obstructed,  while  their  navigation  is  long  and  tortuous.  British 
capitalists  have  supplied  the  means  with  which  a  railroad  has  been 
constructed  from  Yarna,  one  hundred  and  iifty  miles  long,  which 
intercepts  the  Danube  at  Rustchuk.  This  railroad,  reducing  the 
journey  from  Yienna  to  Constantinople  four  hundred  miles,  already 
divides  the  freight  traffic  with  the  circuitous  Danubian  route,  while 
it  takes  the  entire  passenger-trade. 

The  United  States  consul,  the  British  consul,  and  several  Euro- 
pean and  American  missionaries,  were  gathered  at  the  wharf  at 
Rustchuk  to  welcome  Mr.  Seward. 

The  Danube,  now  carrying  a  high  flood,  spreads  here  over  a 


PROSPECTS   OF  TURKEY.  G55 

mile  in  width,  with  high  but  not  mountainous  banks.  The  town 
contains  a  population  of  twenty-five  thousand,  and  has  the  appear- 
ance of  much  activity.  It  presents  less  an  Oriental  than  a  Eu- 
ropean aspect.  Gast-hauser,  hier-hailser,  not  to  speak  of  ships, 
manufactories,  and  shops,  indicate  a  large  dominating  German 
element.  Minarets  are  less  frequent,  and  spires  of  Christian 
churches  take  their  place. 

On  the  opposite  bank  lies  the  principality  of  Wallachia,  now, 
like  Bulgaria,  practically  independent  of  the  Turkish  Empire.  Its 
capital,  Bucharest,  forty-four  miles  distant  from  the  Danube,  is 
reached  by  railroad. 

How  dilierent  is  the  voyage  on  the  Danube  from  our  late  ex- 
periences !  Passengers,  master,  and  crew,  are  all  Europeans,  gen- 
erally with  German  features  and  complexions,  but  all  speaking 
French  and  Italian  as  well  as  their  vernacular.  But  the  econ- 
omy of  the  boat  is  purely  German.  There  are  only  two  state- 
rooms. We  have  taken  these  at  ten  dollars  each  per  day,  extra  ; 
while  all  the  other  passengers,  whether  first  or  second  class,  sleep 
as  they  find  places,  on  the  sofas  and  tables  of  the  forward  saloon. 

Thursday,  July  \2>th. — Still  the  "Wallachian  bank  on  the  north, 
but  on  the  south,  Servia.  So  at  last  we  have  left  the  Turkish  Em- 
pire behind  us.  The  only  monuments  which  the  Waywode  of  Ser- 
via exhibits  are  the  now  tenantless  fortifications,  castles,  and 
barracks,  in  which  Turkish  garrisons  were  maintained,  long  after 
the  severance  of  Servia,  for  the  security  of  the  empire. 

What  shall  we  say  of  Turkey?  Let  us  say  that,  having  seen  it, 
we  find  it  a  greater  puzzle  than  before — more  completely  hybrid 
than  any  other  state  that  has  ever  existed — a  combination  of  two 
antagonistic  and  irreconcilable  forces — half  Asiatic,  half  European 
— half  Saracenic,  half  Crusader — half  Christian,  half  Mussulman — 
half  civilized,  half  uncivilized — ^half  hostile  and  belligerent,  half 
pacific  and  enervated.  Thus  it  has  a  more  difficult  political  posi- 
tion, than  any  empire  has  had,  to  maintain ;  and  a  geographical 
position,  the  worst  that  could  be  conceived,  for  maintaining.  Its 
own  security  requires  that  it  shall  not  only  close  the  passage  be- 


C56  .  EUROPE. 

tween  two  seas,  but  also,  dominate  on  the  shores  of  two  continents. 
Turkey  is  thus  in  everybody's  way.  The  Russians,  covering  the 
entire  northern  part  of  Europe,  and  bordering  on  the  Black  Sea 
and  the  Caspian,  want  free  access  to  the  Mediterranean  and  tlie 
Persian  Gulf.  Tlie  English,  French,  and  Germans,  M-ant  free  ac- 
cess to  the  wheat-fields  of  the  Danube ;  the  Italians  have  a  prescrip- 
tive right  to  the  Archipelago.  All  the  countries  of  Continental 
Europe,  like  the  United  States,  are  becoming  manufacturing  coun- 
tries. They  need  open  roads  and  free  markets  on  the  borders  of 
the  Black  Sea,  and  throughout  the  entire  Asiatic  Continent. 
Steadily,  perseveringly,  they  go  on,  opening  the  roads  to  such  mar- 
kets. Great  Britain  and  France  have  already  effected  railroad  and 
canal  communication  through  Egypt  to  the  Red  Sea.  British  cor- 
porations have  achieved  two  or  three  railways  in  Turkey.  A  direct 
and  continuous  railway  communication,  across  Western  Asia  to 
India,  looms  up  already  in  the  near  future,  while  the  traditional 
policy  of  Russia  demands  not  only  free  passage  through  the  Bos- 
porus by  sea,  but  will  soon  exact  a  passage  through  Persia,  and 
the  Turkish  dominions,  from  the  Black  Sea  to  the  Indian  Ocean. 
Even  the  United  States,  although  they  but  seldom  float  a  ship  in 
the  Levant,  and  only  occasionally  display  their  flag  there,  yet,  con- 
scious of  a  maritime  destiny,  chafe,  like  the  European  states,  against 
the  Turkish  restraints  on  navigation.  Thus  Turkey  is  in  every- 
body's way.  The  empire  must  maintain  the  Mohammedan  reli- 
gion, or  fall  a  victim  to  its  fanaticism.  That  religion,  incapable  of 
reconciling  itself  to  Christian  codes  of  laws,  manners,  customs,  and 
sympathies,  naturally  provokes  and  stimulates  the  hatred  of  the 
Western  nations. 

At  the  same  time,  the  Turks,  while  they  have  not  lost  their 
national  pride  and  valor,  have  become  comparatively  too  feeble  in 
numbers,  and  too  poor  in  wealth,  to  maintain  an  equal  controversy 
with  any  of  the  formidable  Western  states.  The  Christian  part  of 
the  population  in  the  empire  and  its  outposts  are  continually  giving 
signs  of  disloyalty  to  the  Porte,  and  seeking  protection  and  alliance 
with  Russia,  Great  Britain,  France,  the  United  States,  and  every 
other  foreign  power.     Meanwhile  the  distant  Mohammedan  depend- 


TURKISH  POLICY.  657 

encies  in  Africa,  Arabia,  and  on  tlie  shores  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  are 
factious,  and  in  any  emergency  are  more  likely  to  assert  their  own 
independence  than  to  yield  support  to  the  empire  against  an  enemy. 
Under  these  circumstances,  Turkey  continues  to  live  only  by  prac- 
tising conciliation  and  making  concessions ;  and  these  concessions 
are  measured,  not  by  her  own  ability  to  grant,  but  by  the  magnanim- 
ity which  extorts.  Never  without  a  patron,  she  seeks  the  strong- 
est, but,  like  all  dependent  powers,  she  must  be  content  with  such 
as  she  can  secure.  The  Turkish  Government  in  Europe  has  been 
prolonged,  chiefly  by  means  of  her  European  allies,  a  hundred  years. 
While  improving  in  administration,  laws,  and  manners,  the  empire 
is  manifestly  less  formidable  to-day  than  ever  before.  How  much 
longer  it  shall  survive  depends  altogether  on  the  mutations  of  that 
most  intricate  of  all  combinations,  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe. 
Just  now,  however,  it  has  a  new  ground  of  hope  for  longer  im- 
munity in  the  misfortunes  which  have  lately  come  to  the  French, 
Spanish,  and  Austrian  states,  and  the  fall  of  the  temporal  suprem- 
acy of  the  Pope,  coincidences  which  seem  to  render  an  aggressive 
combination  of  Catholic  Europe  against  Mohammedan  Turkey  im- 
possible. On  the  whole,  our  conclusions  must  be  that  the  Turkish 
Empire  will  ultimately  disappear  from  Europe,  but  when,  or  how, 
cannot  be  determined,  while  no  such  uncertainty  hangs  over  the 
political  institutions  of  Western  Europe. 

This  conclusion  seems  a  hard  one  to  a  generous  mind  that  wit- 
nesses not  only  the  sincere  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Sultan  and 
the  ministry  to  modify  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  Empire,  but 
sees  also  so  many  pleasing  evidences  of  active  improvement  and 
progress. 

It  is,  however,  only  too  palpable  that  the  closer  the  approach 
which  the  Turkish  Empire  may  make  toward  the  ideas  and  prin- 
ciples of  the  West,  the  more  its  European  provinces  will  be  em- 
boldened to  shake  off  its  sway  altogether  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  concessions  made  in  effecting  that  approach  tend  immeasurably 
to  disgust  and  demoralize  Mohammedans  in  Asia  and  Africa,  and 
so  weaken  the  cohesion  between  the  Government  and  its  languish- 
ing or  dead  Oriental  provinces  and  dependencies. 


658  EUROPE. 

Orsova,  July  lUh. — We  passed  the  "Iron  Gate"  safely  this 
morning,  notwithstanding  our  itinerary  instructions  had  prepared 
us  for  the  passage  by  the  following  sensational  description  :  "  We 
now  approach  the  '  Iron  Gate.'  At  this  name  we  are  seized  with  a 
feeling  of  terror,  but  the  captain  and  crew  assure  us  there  is  no  dan- 
ger, for  the  pilot  understands  the  navigation." 

The  Hungarians  claim  that  the  Iron  Gate  surpasses  the  most 
picturesque  scenery  on  the  Rhine,  in  point  of  granduer.  AVe  are 
obliged  to  confess  that  it  is  not  inferior  in  effect  to  that  of  the  High- 
lands of  the  Hudson,  which  in  mountain  scenery  it  resembles.  At 
the  Iron  Gate  we  enter  a  defile,  a  mile  and  a  quarter  long,  in  which 
the  river,  reduced  to  the  width  of  six  hundred  feet,  has  a  fall  of 
sixteen  feet — above  this  is  a  succession  of  smaller  rapids  and  whirl- 
pools. From  time  immemorial,  the  improvement  of  the  Iron  Gate 
has  been  an  anxious  study  of  the  nations  which  control  the  Dan- 
ube. While  we  were  examining  the  ruins  of  an  old  canal  around 
it,  our  friends,  the  American  engineers  Mc Alpine  and  Powell,  em- 
ployed by  the  Danubian  Steam  Navigation  Company,  were  exhibit- 
ing to  us  their  plans  for  substituting  some  other  improvement. 

"What  has  surprised  us  thus  far  in  Hungary  is,  to  find  that, 
while  the  Hungarian  mind  cherishes  a  sentiment  of  state  pride 
hardly  less  strong  than  that  which  urged  the  people  of  Virginia 
into  the  rebellion,  yet  this  sentiment  seems  everywhere  completely 
subordinated  to  the  sentiment  of  loyalty  to  the  Emperor  of  Aus- 
tria, as  the  King  of  Hungary. 

Buda-Pesth,  Juhj  11th. — How  striking  is  the  contrast  of  Euro- 
pean and  Asiatic  civilization  !  Though  Buda-Pesth  is  an  inland  ■ 
provincial  town,  with  a  population  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand, the  tonnage  in  its  port,  altogether  of  steam,  is  greater  than 
that  of  Cairo,  Alexandria,  or  Constantinople.  We  were  not  pre- 
pared for  a  scene  of  such  activity. 

The  river  divides  the  port  into  two  parts.  On  the  southern 
bank  is  the  royal  palace,  and  a  long  line  of  fortifications  crowns 
the  hills,  while  the  shore  seems  to  contain  the  dwellings  of  officers 
and  others  in  the  service  of  the  Government.     This  is  Buda.     On 


X 
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ili|llll|iin!l!i';    ''  '  '-^^  ,<^'"i 


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BUDA-PESTH.  659 

the  opposite  side  is  a  plain  covered  with  a  large  metropolis.  This 
is  Pesth. 

We  had  determined  to  remain  here  one  day,  although  we  had 
neither  acquaintances  nor  references  at  Pesth.  While  we  were 
wondering  what  we  should  do,  and  where  we  should  go,  we  saw 
the  United  States  flag  waving  from  the  roofs  of  two  lofty  buildings 
on  the  terrace  which  overlooks  the  river.  We  rounded  and  deliv- 
ered passengers  on  the  quay  at  Buda,  then  swept  across  and  fast- 
ened to  the  wharf  at  Pesth,  where  we  were  met  by  the  United 
States  vice-consul,  and  conducted  to  apartments  which,  in  anticipa- 
tion of  our  coming,  he  had  secured  in  the  Grand  Hotel,  now  newly 
opened  by  a  proprietor  especially  desirous  of  securing  the  favor  of 
American  travellers.  Here  we  feel,  for  the  first  time,  that  we  have 
left  the  East  behind,  and  have  only  Western  civilization  around 
and  before  us.  It  seems  strange  that  in  the  same  conjuncture  are 
met,  for  the  first  time,  American  interest  and  influence.  An  Hun- 
garian surgeon,  exiled  with  Kossuth,  went  in  the  early  emigration 
to  California,  where  he  acquired  an  independence.  Afterward  he 
was  appointed  United  States  consul  at  Bucharest,  where  he  has 
resided  for  several  years.  He  has  made  his  permanent  home  at 
Pesth,  and  takes  great  pride  in  his  native  city.  But  what  is  more 
remarkable  is,  that  to-morrow  Pesth  gives  a  trial  to  two  reaping- 
machines,  which  are  sent  out  here  by  the  manufacturers,  neighbors 
of  ours  in  Auburn. 

We  have  passed  a  pleasant  hour  in  looking  down  from  our  bal- 
cony upon  the  people  of  Pesth,  who  are  enjoying  the  fashionable 
promenade  of  this  street.  There  is  nothing  in  their  appearance  or 
ways  to  distinguish  them  from  similar  groups  on  Fifth  Avenue. 

I^esth,  Juhj  17th,  Evening. — We  made  a  tour  this  morning 
among  the  public  institutions  and  monuments.  We  admired,  as  it 
deserved,  the  noble  suspension-bridge  which,  crossing  the  Danube, 
connects  the  two  cities  of  Buda  and  Pesth,  although  structures  of 
that  sort  have  ceased  to  be  a  wonder  for  us  since  we  have  crossed 
so  often  the  suspension-bridges  of  the  Niagara  and  the  Ohio.  This 
one  is  twelve  hundred  feet  long,  and  twenty-two  feet  wide,  swings 


660  EUROPE. 

sixty  feet  above  the  water,  and  was  built  by  an  English  engineer 
(Clark)  at  a  cost  of  seven  million  dollars.  This  bridge  has  an 
historical  interest.  The  citizens  of  Pesth  rose  in  defence  of  their 
national  independence  in  18^8,  and  met  and  massacred  Count 
Lamberg,  an  imperial  messenger  from  Vienna,  who  was  crossing 
the  river  to  disperse  the  Hungarian  Diet  by  force.  It  may  be 
deemed  an  evidence  of  the  advance  of  civilization  that,  in  the 
dreadful  civil  strife,  although  the  contending  armies  by  turns  se- 
cured the  beautiful  structure,  neither  party  laid  violent  hands  on  it. 
On  one  occasion  the  Hungarian  army,  routed  and  defeated,  was  pur- 
sued across  it  by  the  Austrian  army,  sixty  thousand  strong.  Three 
months  later,  the  Austrians,  retreating  in  their  turn,  were  pursued 
across  it  by  the  now  victorious  Hungarians.  Notwithstanding  all 
this,  the  bridge  remained  unimpaired  at  the  close  of  the  struggle. 

Buda  was  the  ancient  capital  of  Hungary,  while  Pesth,  on  the 
opposite  side,  long  remained  an  important  town.  At  Buda  we 
visited  the  palace  of  the  kings  of  Hungary,  with  the  citadel  and 
extensive  barracks,  claimed  to  be  the  largest  in  the  world.  These 
structures,  built  on  a  lofty  eminence  which  overlooks  Pesth,  have 
a  commanding  view  of  the  Danube  and  of  the  great  Himgarian 
plain  on  either  side  of  the  majestic  river.  When  the  union  of  the 
crowns  of  Hungary  and  Austria  took  place,  it  was  distinctly  stipu- 
lated that  the  Emperor  of  Austria  should  be  crowned  in  Hungary  ; 
that  Hungary  should  preserve  its  constitutional  powers  ;  and  that, 
as  king,  the  emperor  should  alternately  reside  in  Hungary  and  in 
Austria.  The  palace  of  the  ancient  Hungarian  line  had  been  de- 
stroyed in  the  Turkish  wars,  and  the  building  of  the  present  one 
was  begun  in  the  reign  of  Charles  YL,  and  finished  bv  Maria 
Theresa,  his  daughter.  This  palace,  however  it  may  compare  with 
the  Schonbrunn,  is  not  unworthy  to  be  the  imperial  residence.  But 
Hungary  being  more  progressive  than  Austria,  her  claims  of  an- 
cient rights  and  privileges  became  annoying  to  the  imperial  throne, 
and,  in  the  reactionary  administration  of  Metternich,  every  effort 
was  made  to  extinguish  the  Hungarian  constitution,  and  to  destroy 
Hungarian  independence.  Joseph  II.  refused  to  be  crowned  in 
Hungary,  and  the  palace  in  which  his  mother  Maria  Theresa  had 


THE   HUNGARIAN  PEOPLE.  6G1 

found  a  safe  refuge  against  tlic  pursuit  of  Frederick  the  Great  be- 
came from  that  time  untenanted.  It  is  now  honored  by  an  occa- 
sional sojourn  of  the  present  emperor  and  the  court.  The  orna- 
ments, decorations,  and  furniture,  of  the  palace  are  rich,  tasteful, 
and  in  harmony  with  the  customs  and  manners  of  European  so- 
ciety. There  are  statues,  paintings,  books,  and  music,  not  to  speak 
of  cosey  salons  and  boudoirs,  nurseries,  school-rooms,  and  chambers, 
impressing  us  with  their  cheerful  contrast  to  the  empty,  monotonous 
grandeur  of  Oriental  imperial  harems.  Besides  portraits  of  the 
present  imperial  family,  there  are  two  of  great  historic  interest. 
One  represents  a  battle-scene,  with  Prince  Eugene  as  its  prominent 
figure  ;  the  other  depicts  the  heroic  Maria  Theresa  appealing  to  the 
loyalty  of  the  nation. 

The  hills  around  Buda  are  chiefly  occupied  by  pleasant  country- 
seats.  The  city  of  Pesth  is  nine  miles  in  circumference.  Three 
hundred  streets  divide  it  into  nearly  regular  scpiares.  It  is  the 
Plungarian  centre  of  science,  literature,  and  art,  as  well  as  com- 
merce. It  has  theatres,  colleges,  parks,  gardens,  and  every  tiling 
which  becomes  such  a  city.  Among  all  these  objects  of  interest, 
we  paused  to  look  only  at  two.  One  was  the  stone  stage  on  which 
the  kings  of  Hungary  were  crowned,  and  the  other  the  celebrated 
Esterhazy  gallery  of  paintings,  which  is  especially  rich  in  the  works 
of  Claude  Lorraine  and  of  the  great  Spanish  masters.  Having 
been  bought  by  a  spirited  and  patriotic  association,  it  has  becoma 
the  chief  pride  of  the  city. 

We  have  had  no  desire  on  this  journey  so  intense  as  to  see 
Hungary.  "When  the  Hungarian  people  rose  to  assert  its  indepen- 
dence in  18i7,  it  seemed  an  unknown  countiy  to  us.  Its  three 
centuries  of  strife,  trial,  and  achievement,  while  the  forces  of  Chris- 
tianity and  Islamism  were  contending  for  a  boundary  on  its  plains, 
had  been  forgotten.  The  whole  world  were  taken  by  surprise 
when  they  saw  in  the  circumstances  of  the  revolution,  not  only 
just  cause,  but  virtue  as  great,  intelligence  as  commanding,  with 
energy  and  valor  as  marked,  as  those  which  won  for  our  own  revo- 
lution the  respect  and  good  wishes  of  nations.  At  first  the  sym- 
pathies of  nearly  the  whole  American  people  were  earnestly  with 


662  EUROPE. 

them.  When,  however,  the  revolution  subsided,  and  its  patriot 
leaders  were  decimated  or  sent  into  exile,  and  Hungary  fell  more 
completely  than  before  under  the  heels  of  despotism,  a  few  of  her 
earliest  and  most  constant  friends  found  that  they  stood  almost 
alone,  at  home  and  abroad,  in  their  respect  and  pity  for  the  unfor- 
tunate nation.  Memory  brings  up  once  more  the  scene  of  Kos- 
suth's sad  pilgrimage  to  Mount  Yernon,  and  of  his  standing  in 
silent  contemplation  before  the  tomb  of  "Washington,  the  only  man 
who  had  secured  the  reverence  of  all  mankind  by  his  successful  de- 
votion to  his  country  and  liberty.  His  friends  left  him  alone  with 
his  thoughts,  and,  on  retm'ning,  found  him  suifused  with  tears. 
"  "Washington,"  said  he,  "  succeeded;  I  have  failed." 

Having  so  often  wished  to  come  here  and  renew,  on  the  ground, 
the  opinions  and  the  course  of  action  then  pursued,  it  is  a  satisfac- 
tion and  a  reward  to  find  the  Hungarian  people  all  that  the  friends 
of  liberty  throughout  the  world  thought  them  to  be — to  find  that 
their  quarrel  with  the  Government  of  Austria  was  just — that  they 
had  a  right  to  be  free — that  they  had  the  valor,  the  energy,  the 
intelligence  which  would  have  gained  their  freedom,  but  for  such 
combinations  as  no  people  ever  had  the  ability  to  overcome. 
When  they  had  surmounted  factious  disputes,  growing  out  of  dif- 
ferences of  race,  language,  and  religion  in  Hungary,  their  attempt 
to  achieve  their  independence,  within  necessary  boundaries,  was 
the  signal  for  antagonism,  resistance,  and  civil  war,  in  the  sur- 
rounding provinces  of  Croatia,  Slavonia,  Wallachia,  and  Transyl- 
vania. The  separation  of  Hungary  from  the  German  provinces  of 
Austria  would  be  a  dismemberment  which  the  empire  could  not 
survive.  Eussia,  through  the  eyes  of  the  Emperor  Nicholas,  saw 
in  it  the  restoration  of  the  independence  and  sovereignty  of  Poland. 
European  nations,  intent  on  commercial  enterprise,  shrank  from 
political  agitation,  which  might  reproduce  the  disasters  of  the 
French  Eevolution  of  1793.  And  now,  we  are  required  to  decide 
on  the  spot  whether  the  sacrifices,  which  Hungary  then  made,  were 
entirely  without  avail ;  and  whether  her  aspirations  were  impracti- 
cable, and  have  perished  with  the  failure  of  her  revolution,  leaving 
her  no  remaining  hope.     The  situation  which  Hungary  occupies 


THE  DANUBE.  663 

now  satisfies  all  these  hitherto  painful  inquiries.  The  march  of 
progress  in  Europe,  since  1849,  has  proved  irresistible.  Austria 
sufiered  bj  a  fearful  blow  received  from  France,  costing  her  practi- 
cally her  Italian  dominions.  Later,  a  blow  from  Germany,  which 
almost  seemed  to  be  fatal,  has  obliged  her  to  give  up  the  reac- 
tionary policy  to  which  she  so  tenaciously  adhered,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  fall  back,  as  she  must  always  fall  back,  on  the  resources, 
the  valor,  and  the  loyalty  of  Hungary.  The  Hungarians  have 
taken  advantage  of  this  emergency  to  secure  from  the  Austrian 
Empire  a  confirmation  of  all  their  cherished  political  rights  and  lib- 
erties, without  betraying  the  empire  to  its  enemies.  There  is 
hardly  a  political  right  or  privilege,  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
enjoys,  that  is  not  now  guaranteed  to  the  subjects  of  Francis  Jo- 
seph in  Hungary,  except  that  one  which  no  nation  in  Europe  has 
shown  the  courage  to  assume — the  right  of  electing  their  own  chief 
magistrate  by  impartial  suffrage.  The  concession  of  these  rights  in 
Hungary  has  necessitated  an  equally  popular  reform  in  the  other 
parts  of  the  empire ;  and  although  Hungary  has  failed  to  achieve 
independent  national  existence,  which  she  has  never  sincerely 
striven  for,  she  is  carrying  the  whole  Austrian  Empire  to  a  higher 
plane  of  responsible  government  and  popular  freedom.  It  may  be 
doubtful  how  the  Austrian  Government  can  succeed  in  the  new 
political  autonomy,  which  the  persistence  of  Hungary,  combined 
with  the  embarrassments  of  the  empire,  has  forced  upon  it ;  but  it 
is  quite  certain  that  in  no  case  can  Hungary  lose  the  advantages 
she  has  so  deservedly  gained.  Considerations  like  these  have 
soothed  the  regret  with  which  we  have  seen  our  revolutionary 
friend.  Count  Pulsky,  occupying  a  place  in  the  councils  of  the  em- 
peror at  Yienna  ;  and  the  deeper  sorrow  with  which  we  have  seen, 
everywhere  here,  that  the  remembrance  of  the  martyrs  of  1 818,  as 
well  as  the  names  of  the  patriots  who  survived  that  period,  Kos- 
suth, Asboth,  and  Ujhazy,  seems  to  be  nearly  forgotten. 

On  the  Danube,  July  ISiA. — The  easiest  and  the  best  way  to 
study  political  geography  is  to  follow  the  navigation  of  great  riv- 
ers.    The  Danube  conveys  and  distributes  among  all  nations  the 

50 


664:  EUROPE. 

cereals  of  Central  Europe.  It  is  a  pleasure,  as  you  ascend  its 
strong  though  not  dangerous  current,  to  recall  the  history  of  Eu- 
rope from  the  beginning  of  Western  civilization.  The  Danube 
was  the  boundary  which  Roman  conquests  did  not  pass  until  the 
beginning  of  the  decline  of  the  empire.  It  was  the  high-road  of  the 
northern  barbarians  who  avenged  upon  the  empire  the  aggression 
and  the  insults  they  had  received  from  the  republic,  and  who,  set- 
tling down  in  their  new  conquests,  submitted  themselves  to  the 
laws  and  religions  of  the  enervated  nations  whom  they  had  sub- 
dued, and  gave  to  Europe  and  the  world  the  basis  of  a  new  and 
higher  civilization.  In  its  whole  length,  from  the  Black  Sea  to 
Vienna,  the  Danube  was  the  battle-ground  between  Christianity 
and  Islamism ;  the  boundary  between  them,  continually  shifting, 
has  scarcely  yet  been  fixed.  We  had  a  strong  desire  to  follow  the 
majestic  river  to  its  navigable  source,  in  close  neighborhood  of  the 
Rhine,  but  time  does  not  permit.  We,  therefore,  left  it  at  Pesth, 
for  the  more  rapid  but  less  instructive  travel  by  rail,  and  have 
had  a  ten  hours'  journey  of  one  hundred  and  forty  miles.  The  soil 
over  which  we  have  passed,  like  that  of  the  plain  below  Pesth,  is 
fertile ;  the  landscape  beautiful ;  the  people  universally  industri- 
ous, women  sharing  the  field-labors  equally  with  the  men. 

Vienna,  July  ^Isf. — Since  leaving  Constantinople,  we  have 
been  enjoying  glimpses  of  Western  civilization,  but  only  partial 
glimpses,  as  if  through  long  and  shaded  vistas.  Now  it  seems 
that  we  have  rushed  into  its  very  centre  as  we  entered  the  wide 
and  magnificent  streets  of  Vienna.  Those  of  our  party  who  are 
untravelled  in  Europe  asked,  as  we  rolled  from  the  station,  through 
broad  and  shaded  avenues,  bordered  by  palatial  edifice^,  and  orna- 
mented with  classic  fountains  and  equestrian  statues,  to  our  hotel 
which  overlooks  the  fine  boulevard  on  the  ancient  ramparts  of  the 
city,  "  Does  London  or  Paris  surpass  this  ? " 

Vienna  is,  indeed,  a  great  city.  Its  population  exceeds  three- 
quarters  of  a  million  ;  its  accumulated  wealth  is  immense.  Its 
manufacture  of  scientific  apparatus,  musical  instruments,  and  arti- 
cles of  vertu  and  luxury,  is  hardly  inferior  to  that  of  Paris.     Banks, 


PEOGEESS  OF   AUSTEIA.  665 

railroads,  and  navigation  companies,  grasp  the  commerce,  not  onlj 
of  the  Danube,  but  of  the  Mediterranean,  the  Black  Sea,  and  the 
Levant.  Its  churches  are  built,  by  lavish  contributions  of  dying 
devotees,  in  perfected  Gothic  grandeur.  Its  royal  and  imperial 
palaces  are  of  the  oldest  of  the  European  dynasties.  Its  universi- 
ties, colleges,  academies  of  art,  its  hospitals,  and  charities,  rival 
those  of  larger  capitals.  Its  school  of  music  is  equalled  only  by 
that  of  Leipsic.  Of  course,  it  was  little  of  all  this  magnificence, 
national  and  metropolitan,  that  we  could  see  in  the  short  period  of 
four  days. 

John  Jay,  our  minister  resident  at  Vienna,  was  in  the  moun- 
tains when  we  arrived  ;  but  he  came  promptly  down  to  receive  us, 
and  has  extended  to  us  the  hospitalities  of  the  legation.  Mr.  Dela- 
plaine,  the  secretary  of  the  legation,  has  been  equally  attentive. 
Mr.  Seward  complimented  Mr.  Jay  on  his  success  in  achieving  the 
negotiation  of  a  naturalization  convention  with  the  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment. Perhaps  no  single  event  more  strikingly  illustrates  the 
rapidity  of  political  progress  in  Austria  than  this  treat3^  In  1850, 
Austria  was  on  the  verge  of  a  rupture  with  the  United  States  on 
the  occasion  of  the  arrest  of  Martin  Kostza  on  board  an  American 
vessel  at  Trieste.  In  1859,  Mr.  Seward,  when  here  on  a  visit,  was 
coldly  and  distantly  received  by  the  emperor  at  an  audience  in  the 
Imperial  Palace.  Yesterday,  coming  here  so  soon  after  the  Arch- 
duke Maximilian's  unhappy  catastrophe  in  Mexico,  Mr.  Seward  was 
invited  by  the  Count  von  Beust,  prime-minister  of  the  empire,  to  a 
public  dinner,  given  by  that  minister  to  the  American  representa- 
tive and  the  diplomatic  corps,  by  way  of  celebrating  a  naturaliza- 
tion treaty  with  the  United  States,  which  recognizes  the  right  of 
all  men,  subjects  of  any  government,  to  change  their  political  alle- 
giance, and  enjoy  the  protection  of  the  state  they  prefer.  Yet 
more  remarkable  was  it  that  the  entertainment  was  given  in  the 
very  hall  in  which  the  Congress  of  Vienna  sat  in  1815,  to  establish 
peace  and  give  public  law  to  Europe. 

The  political  situation  in  Austria  is  more  embarrassing  than  in 
any  other  country  of  Europe,  except  France.  Unlike  France,  its 
evils  are  chronic.     The  Austrian  Empire  is  not  in  any  sense  a  con- 


666 


EUEOPE. 


solidated  nation,  but,  in  the  course  of  five  hundred  years,  has  ag- 
gregated, by  royal  marriages  or  by  conquest,  a  large  number  of 
formerly  independent  kingdoms,  principalities,  and  duchies,  in 
Central  Europe.  The  present  Austrian  Empire  consists  of  nine- 
teen separate  states  yet  remaining  of  that  aggregate,  differing  from 
each  other  in  race,  language,  habits,  religion,  customs,  and  com- 
merce— a  part  German,  a  part  Magyar,  a  part  Slave,  a  part  Italian, 


COUNT  VON   BEITST. 


a  part  Turkish,  a  part  Greek.  There  are  Mohammedans,  Greeks, 
Roman  Catholics,  Jews,  and  Protestants.  The  Protestants  are  di- 
vided between  Lutherans  and  Calvinists.  These  nationalities  and 
sects,  necessarily  separated  from  each  other,  have  been  held  in  com- 
bination by  force  only,  without  social  assimilations.  Of  Austria, 
with  its  thirty-five  million  people," it  must  be  said,  as  it  cannot  be  said 
of  any  other  nation  in  the  world,  that  there  is  no  Austrian  people. 


AUSTRIAN  POLICY.  667 

The  world  knows  its  subjects  by  the  names  of  their  respective  na- 
tionalities or  provinces  only.  Every  one  recognizes  the  subject  of 
France  as  a  Frenchman ;  of  Sweden,  as  a  Swede  ;  of  Denmark,  as 
a  Dane ;  of  Italy,  as  an  Italian  ;  of  Kussia,  as  a  Eussian — but  we 
know  the  subjects  of  Austria  only  as  Bohemians,  Hungarians,  Ty- 
rolese,  Germans,  Poles,  Slavonians,  and  Wallachians.  The  empire 
has  hitherto  had  no  common  constitution.  In  the  provinces  of 
Upper  Austria  and  Lower  Austria,  the  emperor  rules  as  emperor  : 
while,  in  Bohemia  and  Hungary,  he  rules,  not  as  emperor,  but  as 
king  of  those  countries  respectively.  There  has  been  no  common 
legislature.  He  is  despotic  in  some  of  the  states  ;  a  constitutional 
and  limited  monarch  in  some  others.  It  may  not  be  doubted  that 
the  emperors  of  Austria  have  constantly  desired  and  striven  to 
effect  a  consolidated  empire.  It  is  because  they,  on  the  one  hand, 
have  usually  aimed  at  effecting  absolute  unity  by  coercion,  that 
the  several  states,  on  the  other,  have  striven  to  preserve  absolute 
independence  by  resistance.  The  absolute  in  any  thing  is  unat- 
tainable by  man,  although,  as  a  general  law,  we  attain  any  thing 
desirable  only  by  striving  for  the  absolute.  The  great  Maria  The- 
resa was  the  first  who,  with  sagacity  and  energy,  attempted  the 
task  of  unification.  Joseph  II.  persevered  with  great  fidelity  in 
the  work  ;  but  all  this  policy  was  shipwrecked  in  the  general  con- 
vulsion of  the  Napoleonic  wars,  and  Austria,  under  the  administra- 
tion of  Metternich,  became  a  victim  of  absolutism  at  home,  and  a 
leader  of  that  hated  cause  in  Europe.  His  course  eventuated  in 
the  Hungarian  insurrection  of  1848.  Upon  the  successful  suppres- 
sion of  that  revolution,  the  young  monarch,  Francis  Joseph,  inau- 
gurated a  new  policy,  comprising  liberal  reforms  and  concessions 
of  constitutional  liberty  to  the  respective  states.  The  jealousies  of 
these  states,  however,  have  thus  far  rendered  every  attempt  at  a 
common  and  equal  basis  of  government  impracticable.  It  remains 
to  be  seen  whether  an  harmonious  constitution  of  the  empire  can 
ever  be  established. 

How  can  it  be  hoped  for  after  such  continued  failures  ?  It 
may,  because  the  Danube  is  the  great  river  of  Europe.  Its 
branches  are  the  granary  and  the  vineyard  of  a  large  portion  of 


668  EUROPE. 

the  world,  and  supply  the  elements  of  commerce  for  half  of  Eu- 
rope. The  nations  or  states  which  occupy  these  banks  must  have 
the  protection  and  defence  that  all  states  require.  This  protection 
must  be  aflbrded  by  distant  states  on  the  Atlantic  coast  or  on  the 
Bosporus.  Hitherto  the  German  race  on  one  side,  and  the  Turk- 
ish race  on  the  other,  have  contended  for  dominion  on  the  Danube. 
But  the  Turkish  Government  has  at  last  become  effete,  while  the 
German  race  has  found  a  permanent  line  of  geographical  division. 
The  time  has  come  when  consolidation  can  be  successfully  main- 
tained at  the  centre  of  the  Danubian  plain.  It  is  not  easy  to  fore- 
see how  much  or  what  part  of  the  German  race  may  yet  drop  off 
from  Austria,  and  be  incorporated  into  the  German  Empire.  But, 
whether  that  diminution  or  abatement  of  the  Austrian  Empire  be 
more  or  less,  enough  of  its  population  and  resources  will  remain  to 
constitute  a  nation  extending  from  the  Bosporus  to  Germany  and 
Italy,  and  embracing  enough  of  the  space  between  the  Russian 
boundary  and  the  Mediterranean  to  make  a  great  empire.  Nor 
can  this  Austro-Hungarian  Empire  fail  to  dominate  on  the  Medi- 
terranean shore  from  the  Adriatic  to  the  Sea  of  Marmora.  It  may 
be  asked  whether,  in  this  view,  we  do  not  accept  Austria  as  a  perma- 
nently imperial  or  despotic  government.  We  think  not.  For  the 
transition  from  despotism  to  republicanism  is  due  to  agencies  which 
more  or  less  pervade  the  whole  world,  or  at  least  the  civilized  por- 
tion of  it.  Nations  may  change  their  forms  of  government  with- 
out at  all  affecting  their  domestic  policy  in  their  relation  to  foreign 
states.  Meantime,  it  is  an  occasion  of  sincere  satisfaction  to  wit- 
ness the  progress  of  material  and  social  improvement  that  has  been 
made  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube.  When  we  look  at  the  vigorous 
and  varied  agriculture,  and  the  stupendous  works  of  material  im- 
provement which  they  exhibit,  we  might  almost  fancy  ourselves  at 
home  in  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  III. 

ITALY. 

Venice. — American  Knights  Templars. — Florence. — Attractiveness  of  the  City. — Rome. 
— The  Coliseum. — Cardinal  Antonelli  and  the  Pope. — Interview  with  the  Pope. — 
The  Italian  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. — The  Schools  of  Art. — Naples. — Vesuvius. 
Early  Civilization  on  the  Mediterranean  Coast. — Naples,  the  Newport  of  the  Roman 
Empire. — Genoa. — Susa. — Prospects  of  Italy. 

Venice,  July  '2,oth. — We  expected  to  find  Venice  in  a  dilapi- 
dated and  sinking  condition.  On  the  contrary,  while  a  large 
number  of  its  palaces  and  wharves  are  empty  and  idle,  there  is  at 
present  a  pervading  air  of  activity  and  cheerfulness.  "What  can  be 
the  caus3  of  this  ?  Yenice  has  become,  in  its  decline,  a  resort  for 
the  studious,  the  contemplative,  and  the  pleasure-seeking  classes 
throughout  all  Europe.  It  is,  indeed,  a  watering-place  like  New- 
port, and  we  happen  to  be  here  in  the  fashionable  season.  AVe 
were  startled  this  morning  by  a  request  of  the  good  keeper  of  our 
hotel,  that  we  would  set  our  dinner-hour  for  the  day  at  either  five 
or  seven  o'clock,  because  at  six  he  was  to  furnish  a  feast  to  "  fifty 
Knights  Templars  in  full  regalia  !  " 

We  thought  we  had  read  history  in  vain.  We  had  supposed 
that  ancient  and  chivalrous  order,  driven  from  the  East  by  the 
Saracens,  had  been  extirpated  five  hundred  years  ago  throughout 
Europe.     We  thought — 

"  The  knights'  bones  are  dust, 
Their  good  swords  rust, 
Their  souls  are  with  the  saints,  we  trust." 


670  EUROPE. 

What  was  our  surprise  to  learn,  not  only  that  fifty  of  them  are 
alive  and  well,  t>ut  that  they  were  in  our  lodging  in  full  armor,  and 
that  they  are  our  own  countrymen  !  They  belonged  to  the  Ma- 
sonic order,  and  were  making  the  tour  of  Europe  together. 

Florence^  July  '2>lth. — Gray  Apennine  Mountains,  with  dash- 
ing torrents,  bright  and  cloudless  skies,  balmy  breezes,  rich  and 
highly-cultivated  plains,  with  winding  rivers  and  laughing  vine- 
yards, picturesque  rural  architecture,  storied  castles,  romantic  vil- 
las, these  are  the  surroundings  of  Florence.  We  can  now,  for  the 
first  time,  appreciate  the  art  of  Claude  Lorraine,  and  the  poetry  of 
Yirgil,  Dante,  and  Milton. 

Leaving  the  Golden  Gate  nearly  a  year  ago,  we  have  traversed 
the  earth's  circumference  more  than  sixteen  thousand  miles  before 
we  obtained  our  first  glimpse  of  cheerful  European  society  at  Pesth. 
In  brightness,  dignity,  and  repose,  the  view  of  it  has  improved  at 
every  step  of  our  descent  of  the  Alps  and  the  Apennines. 

It  being  midsummer,  no  one  is  in  town.  Mr.  Marsh,  United 
States  minister,  greets  us  in  a  letter  from  the  mountains,  where  he 
is  detained  by  illness  in  his  family.  King,  ministers,  and  court, 
all  are  said  to  have  gone  to  Rome  to  reorganize  the  state  of  Italy 
in  that  ancient  capital;  but  in  reality,  like  the  political  functiona- 
ries of  Austria,  they  are  enjoying  the  mountains,  the  sea-side,  and 
other  pleasure  -  resorts.  We  found,  without  difficulty,  pleasant 
apartments  in  the  Hotel  de  VEurojpe,  near  the  Piazzi  della  Santa 
Trinita.  This  morning  Mr.  Wurtz,  the  United  States  secretary 
of  legation,  came  with  our  letters,  and  has  given  us  kind  assist- 
ance in  our  hurried  explorations  of  this,  the  most  delightful  of  Eu- 
ropean cities.  The  first  impression  we  receive  is,  that  the  edifices 
and  dwellings  of  Florence  are  majestic  and  solemn,  while  the 
streets  are  broader,  more  perfectly  paved,  and  cleanly  kept,  than 
any  others  in  the  world.  The  next  impression  is,  that  the  people 
one  meets  are  more  gentle  and  accomplished  than  any  other  peo- 
ple. How  marvellous  is  the  contrast  in  this  respect  between  Flor- 
ence and  Yeddo,  Peking,  Calcutta,  Cairo,  Constantinople,  or  even 
Yienna ! 


o 

u 

cr: 
0 


ENTKANCE   INTO  ROME.  671 

It  has  been  a  subject  of  curious  inquiry  for  us  why  Florence, 
more  than  any  other  Itahan  city — indeed,  more  than  any  city  in 
Europe — is  attractive  to  Americans  as  well  as  to  the  English.  The 
reason,  we  think,  is,  that  the  great  ideas  which  the  world  has  de- 
rived from  the  philosophy,  poetry,  and  art  of  Italy,  have  produced 
in  the  character  of  the  people  of  Florence  a  harmony  with  the 
more  enlightened  social  life  of  those  two  nations.  It  was  a  touch- 
ing illustration  of  this  truth,  that  we  found,  in  the  foreign  cemetery 
of  Florence,  the  tombs  of  Theodore  Parker,  Elizabeth  Barrett 
Browning,  and  Louise  Kuhn,  daughter  of  Charles  Francis  Adams. 

Rome^  July  ^^th. — Even  if  Rome  retains  a  consciousness  of  her 
identity  with  the  City  of  the  Emperors,  she  could  not  complain  as 
the  lady  of  the  harem  in  Constantinople  did,  that  we  had  rushec 
into  her  presence  irreverently. 

Leaving  Florence  this  morning,  we  passed  through,  what  so  long 
has  been  the  patrimony  of  St  Peter,  the  States  of  the  Church,  but 
which  has  just  now  been  absorbed  into  the  new  kingdom  of  Italy. 
The  Italian  mountain  scenery  contrasts  strikingly  with  that  of  the 
Tyrol — the  latter  covered  with  forests,  chiefl}-  evergreen,  alternating 
with  fields  ot  corn  and  wheat — the  former  gray  and  rocky,  relieved 
by  the  bluish-green  olive-orchards,  and  the  deep  rich  verdure  of 
the  chestnut.  Old  cities  and  villas,  built  not  on  the  plain,  but  on 
mountain-tops,  call  up  memories  of  mediaeval  history.  The  railroad 
wmds  for  many  miles  around  the  picturesque  Lago  di  Trasimeno,  a 
view  of  which  must  compensate  us  for  the  loss  of  the  sight  of  the 
beautiful  Lago  Maggiore.  The  entrance  into  Rome,  nay,  the  very 
approach  to  it,  is  accompanied  with  an  unpleasant  feeling  of  the 
confusion  of  the  ancient  with  the  modern.  That  long  arcade,  which 
you  see  on  the  left,  is  the  still  remaining,  though  broken  aqueduct 
of  the  ancient  city.  That  mediaeval  gate  through  which  we  enter 
is  a  structure  not  unlike  the  Cashmere  gate  at  Delhi,  or  the  Damas- 
cus gate  of  Jerusalem.  This  fine,  well-built  square  is  the  railroad- 
station.  And  now,  as  we  are  rattling  through  compact,  solid,  mod- 
ern streets,  a  fountain  comes  into  view,  in  which  Neptune  is  drawn 
in  his  floating  car  by  tritons,  while  the  foaming  water  breaks  over 


672  EUROPE. 

a  broad,  rocky  basin.  "We  have  scarcely  time  to  notice  this  foun- 
tain, before  we  pass  Trajan's  Column,  its  base  sunk  in  the  deep 
plain  and  its  capital  towering  above  the  city.  And  now  we  enter 
the  court  of  the  Hotel  Costanzi,  the  whole  of  which,  we  are  told,  is 
at  our  service. 

Dinner  cannot  detain  the  traveller,  however  weary,  on  the  first 
day  of  his  stay  in  the  Eternal  City.  "Where  do  we  go,  then  ?  To 
the  Coliseum.  "Where  else  could  a  stranger  pass  his  first  evening 
in  Rome,  and  that,  too,  a  moonlight  one  ? 

"When  we  came  under  the  dark  shadow  of  the  stupendous  ruin, 
a  courteous  Italian  sentinel  assisted  us  to  alight,  and  indicated  the 
passage.  Here  was  a  change!  "When  in  Rome  in  1859,  a  French 
soldier  repulsed  us  from'  this  gate  at  night,  because  we  had  not  an 
order  of  admission  from  the  commandant  of  the  French  army  of 
occupation.  At  the  same  time  a  French  bugler,  standing  under  the 
arch  of  the  Temple  of  Peace,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street, 
made  the  surrounding  ruin  echo  with  the  notes  of  a  French  martial 
air. 

We  then  remarked  that  it  was  not  always  so ;  the  Roman  once 
would  have  cut  down  the  Gaul  who  should  have  intruded  here 
with  such  warlike  flourish.  It  is  fortunate  for  us  now  that  the 
modern  Gaul  has  withdrawn  from  the  ancient  city,  and  the  more 
amiable  Roman  has  resumed  the  care  of  its  monuments. 

After  all,  the  first  visit  to  the  Coliseum  should  be  by  sunlight, 
because  the  curiosity  concerning  its  real  form,  proportions,  and 
uses,  is  too  strong  to  admit  of  the  indulgence  of  imagination,  which 
only  enhances  beauty  at  the  cost  of  accuracy  of  vision.  Neverthe- 
less, the  light  of  the  moon,  streaming  into  the  great  arena,  enabled 
us  to  form  an  idea  of  the  general  outline  and  design  of  the  immense 
structure.  Those  four  tiers  or  stories  of  stone  benches  seated  a 
hundred  thousand  Romans.  These  vaulted  chambers  of  the  base- 
ment held  the  gladiators  prepared  for  their  deadly  encounters; 
these  others,  the  wild  beasts,  and  those  beyond,  the  captive  Chris- 
tians, who  were  to  perish  in  the  unequal  combat.  This  spacious 
chamber  is  where  the  emperor  sat  while  presiding  over  the  savage 
amusement.     This  arena  must  have  drunk  oceans  of  blood,  since, 


u 

2 

0 

D 
W 
f] 

J 
0 
0 

w 
I 

H 


THE  COLISEUM.  673 

during  a  single  festival,  beasts  and  men  were  slaughtered  by  the 
thousand  ;  and  the  same  walls  that  now  give  back  to  us  the  voices 
of  monks,  performing  mfdnight  orisons,  then  resounded  with  the 
fearful  acclamations  of  the  multitude,  which  unmercifully  doomed 
the  vanquished  gladiator. 

Our  feelings  were  so  intenselv  absorbed  in  these  reflections, 
that  we  did  not  care  to  clamber  among  the  ruined  arches,  or 
through  the  shrubs  entangled  with  vines  which  festoon  and  some- 
times  choke  them.  How  does  the  Coliseum,  the  most  stupen- 
dous of  Roman  monuments  compare  with  Karnak  or  Luxor  in 
Egypt  ? 

The  Coliseum  is  built  of  brick  and  stone  ;  Karnak  and  Luxor 
Are  built  with  monoliths  of  granite.  The  Coliseum  was  adapted 
to  the  tastes  and  habits  of  men ;  Karnak  and  Luxor  were  con- 
structed for  the  uses  of  the  gods.  The  Coliseum  is  great ;  Karnak 
and  Luxor  are  gigantic.  Others  may  study  monuments  for  their 
architectural  grandeur  or  beauty,  but  we  must  regard  them  as  mile- 
stones marking  the  progress  of  the  world's  civilization.  The  Coli- 
seum, built  to  commemorate  the  consummation  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire, remains  equally  a  monument  of  its  decline  and  extinction.  It 
commemorates  the  fulness  and  completeness  of  the  conquest  of  the 
world  by  the  Roman  people.  It  was  the  place  in  which  they  cele- 
brated their  triumph. 

August  Sd. — Immediately  on  our  arrival  here.  Dr.  Smith,  pro- 
fessor in  the  College  of  the  Propaganda,  Mr.  Seward's  old  friend, 
to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  many  courtesies,  asked  :  "  Will  you 
see  the  Pope  and  Cardinal  Antonelli  ? " 

The  question  had  peculiar  significance,  since  it  is  only  within 
the  last  month  that  the  King  of  Italy  made  his  formal  entry  into 
Rome,  and  established  the  national  authority  within  the  capital,  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  political  supremacy  of  the  Pope.  Mr.  Seward 
said  that  he  would  certainly  be  happy  to  receive  any  consideration 
at  the  hands  of  the  Italian  Government,  but  should  on  no  account 
fail  to  pay  his  respects  to  his  Holiness  and  to  the  cardinal.  They 
were  just  and  friendly  toward  the  United  States  during  her  hour 


674 


EUROPE. 


of  trial,  and  had  shown  him  personally  kind  hospitality  when  he 
was  here  in  1859.  He  considers  it  his  duty  to  cherish  enduring 
friendship  toward  all  who  in  the  supreme  Tiour  of  American  struggle 
were  just  and  faithful  to  his  country  or  himself. 

The  Cardinal  Antonelli,  with  whom  Mr.  Seward  has  enjoyed 
a  personal  acquaintance  for  many  years,  and  who  is  one  among 
the  few  statesmen   of  Europe   that   have   always  been  just  and 


CARDINAL   ANTONKLLI. 


liberal  toward  the  United  States,  received  him  and  the  members 
of  his  party  with  distinguished  courtesy  in  his  splendid  suite  of 
apartments  at  the  Vatican.  Brought  doubtless  by  sincere  convic- 
tion, as  well  as  by  the  policy  of  the  Holy  See,  into  conflict  with 
the  progressive  spirit  of  the  age,  the  cardinal-secretary,  as  all 
know,  is  not  a  favorite  in  republican  circles  at  home  or  abroad, 
while  all  must  acknowledge  him  to  be  a  man  of  great  sagacity,  of 


INTERVIEW   WITH   TEE   POPE.  675 

political  fidelity,  of  high  accomplishments,  and  refined  manners. 
The  conversation  between  him  and  Mr.  Seward  was  cordial  and 
without  reserve.  It  turned  first  on  the  great  events  which  had 
recently  occurred  in  the  United  States ;  the  suppression  of  the  re- 
bellion, the  overthrow  of  slavery,  the  firm  establishment  of  the 
Union,  and  the  reconciliation  consequent  upon  the  conflict.  The 
cardinal  expressed  himself  as  not  surprised  that  the  public  justice 
of  the  United  States  inconsistently  allowed  the  escape  of  the  con- 
spirator Suratt,  whom  the  Pope  had,  without  previous  treaty,  and 
without  conditions,  so  promptly  ordered  to  be  arrested  and  de- 
livered on  Mr.  Seward's  demand. 

The  conversation  then  turned  on  the  political  situation  in  Komo. 
The  Roman  question  is  settled ;  the  Italians  have  Rome  ;  there  is 
no  prospect  of  immediate  change,  but  the  Pope  will  not  leave  the 
Vatican.  He  has  remained  there  for  many  months,  and  he  will 
not  leave  it  voluntarily  for  any  other  residence  in  Rome  or  out  of 
it.  He  will  not  compromise ;  he  will  wait.  "  Non  possumus  " — 
the  words  produced  a  smile — is  the  only  maxim  which  his  Holiness 
can  practise  when  required  by  man  to  betray  a  trust  committed  to 
him  by  God. 

We  were  informed,  yesterday,  that  his  Holiness  would  receive 
Mr.  Seward  in  a  private  audience  at  eleven  o'clock  to-day,  and  at 
twelve  o'clock  he  would  receive  the  two  ladies  in  the  public  audi- 
ence, and  Dr.  Smith  was  requested  to  be  present  and  to  act  as  inter- 
preter for  the  party.  On  the  stroke  of  eleven,  Mr.  Seward  and  Dr. 
Smith  ha^ang  reached  the  Hall  of  the  Throne,  Monsignore  Ricci, 
Maestro  di  Camera,  announced  that  his  Holiness  was  waiting  to 
receive  Mr.  Seward.  He  followed  monsignore  through  several 
spacious  and  richly-furnished  antechambers,  passing  crowds  of  prel- 
ates who  were  awaiting  an  audience.  Among  these  dignitaries, 
were  occasionally  seen  priests,  easily  distinguishable  by  the  plain- 
ness of  their  dress,  and  an  appearance  of  timidity.  Monsignore 
Ricci  having  opened  the  door  of  the  chamber  in  which  the  Pope 
was  sitting  alone,  then  retired.  The  Holy  Father  instantly  arose^ 
and,  coming  quite  to  the  door,  extended  both  his  hands,  taking^ 
those  of  Mr.  Seward.     On  a  slightly-raised  dais,  at  the  upper  end 

61 


676  EUROPE. 

of  the  chamber,  were  two  chairs,  by  the  side  of  a  small  writing- 
table.  The  Pope  placed  Mr.  Seward  in  one  of  these,  and  sat  down 
in  the  other.  We  are  informed  that  hitherto  this  form  of  reception 
has  been  accorded  only  to  sovereigns  and  princes. 

His  Holiness  opened  the  audience  by  expressing  to  Mr.  Seward 
a  grateful  appreciation  of  the  liberality  and  sympathy  which  he 
always  experiences  at  the  hands  of  the  American  people,  and  his 
gratification  at  receiving  Mr.  Seward  again  at  Eome. 

Mr.  Seward  said  that  in  a  time  when  many  European  govern- 
ments and  statesmen  were  very  illiberal  and  unfriendly  to  the  Uni- 
ted States,  his  Holiness  had  proved  himself  just,  considerate,  and 
friendly.  It  was  a  great  satisfaction  to  him  to  have  an  opportu- 
nity to  make  this  acknowledgment  in  person,  and  to  congratulate 
his  Holiness  on  his  good  health.  The  Holy  Father  then  freely 
alluded  to  his  present  political  situation.  Referring  to  the  guaran- 
tees for  his  safety  and  support  which  were  proposed  to  him  by  Vic- 
tor Emmanuel,  he  said :  "  I  have  no  personal  desire  to  reign,  but  I 
have  a  trust  to  keep,  and  to  transmit  to  my  successor.  This  trust 
is  the  patrimony  of  the  See  of  St.  Peter,  which  I  received  in  my 
election.  The  guarantees  offered  by  the  Italians  are  a  mockery 
and  a  snare.  I  am  a  prisoner  in  chains  here,  just  as  my  prede- 
cessor St.  Peter  was  in  vinculis.  I  am  aware  of  my  situation. 
The  kings  of  this  world  are  all  too  busy  to  extend  me  any  help  in 
this  emergency.  I  can  only  look  to  the  King  of  kings  for  sup- 
port. My  resolution  is  taken ;  come  what  may,  I  will  make  no 
eomprora  ise.     Non  possumus  I  " 

"  Holy  Father,"  replied  Mr.  Seward,  "  the  question  of  the 
change  of  relations  between  you  and  the  King  of  Italy  is  a  new 
one,  hardly  yet  ripened  into  a  general  discussion.  The  civilized 
world  will  consider  and  pass  upon  it,  and  their  decision  wall  be 
right.  Christian  nations,  while  they  know  their  duty  to  '  render 
unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's,'  know  also  that  it  is  their 
duty  to  '  render  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's.'  The  experi- 
ence of  mankind  hitherto  has  shown  that  they  are  quite  as  careful 
to  obey  the  latter  precept  as  they  are  to  fulfil  the  former  injunc- 
tion." 


THE   POPE   AND   THE   LADIES.  077 

Mr.  Seward  then  referred  to  the  confidential  mission  which 
Archbishop  Hughes  had  executed  at  Rome  during  the  American 
civil  war. 

The  Pope  lamented  the  early  death  of  the  archbishop  as  a  great 
loss  to  the  Church  and  to  the  two  countries. 

Mr.  Seward  adverted  to  the  loyalty  to  the  American  Union  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  hierarchy,  as  well  as  their  people,  and  said 
that,  for  encouraging  this  loyalty,  the  late  archbishop  was  entitled 
to  the  highest  place.  "  Of  one  thing,"  said  he,  "  your  Holiness 
may  be  sure — the  United  States  can  never  be  unjust  to  any  just 
nation,  or  ungrateful  to  any  friendly  state." 

The  Pope  passed  his  hands  over  Mr.  Seward's  face,  examining 
the  fractures  and  scars  remaining,  and  then  exclaimed  :  "  Your 
escape  was  a  miracle  !  "  He  inquired  largely  concerning  Mr.  Sew- 
ard's family,  his  son  Frederick,  his  wounds  and  his  recovery,  other 
children,  and  their  occupations,  in  a  manner  most  affectionate,  and, 
alluding  to  the  ladies,  said  he  should  soon  have  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  them. 

Finally  rising,  the  Pope  went  to  a  cabinet,  and,  taking  from  it 
a  silver  medal  containing  his  likeness  which  has  just  been  struck 
by  the  Roman  nobility  in  commemoration  of  his  having  attained 
the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  his  pontificate,  requested  Mr.  Sew- 
ard to  accept  it,  and  keep  it  in  remembrance  of  him.  The  Pope 
then  conducted  Mr.  Seward  to  the  door,  saying,  "  I  will  soon  join 
you  in  the  Consistory." 

Meantime,  the  ladies  had  been  conducted  by  Monsignoro  Ricci 
to  the  "  private  Consistory."  It  is  one  of  the  historical  chambers 
of  the  Vatican.  Here  the  Pope  creates  cardinals  and  announces 
bishops  ;  here  he  pronounces  those  allocutions  which  are  even 
now  implicitly  received  by  the  faithful,  and  which  once  shook  the 
thrones  of  the  Christian  world.  During  the  present  pontificate, 
the  hall  has  been  frescoed  and  draped  for  the  reception  especially 
of  ladies.  It  was  in  this  chamber  that  the  Pope  received  the  Arch- 
duke Maximilian  of  Austria  and  the  Princess  Carlotta,  and  pro- 
nounced his  blessing  on  their  attempt  to  establish  a  throne  in 
Mexico  ;  and  it  was  in  this  chamber  that,  on  her  return  from  that 


678  EUROPE. 

ill-starred  expedition,  the  frenzied  princess,  refusing  to  leave  volun- 
tarily, was  forcibly  carried  from  the  papal  presence. 

During  the  hour  of  Mr.  Seward's  audience  with  the  Pope,  some 
fifty  ladies,  many  of  them  with  children,  entered  the  Consistory, 
and  formed  into  groups  on  the  left  side  of  the  chamber  below  the 
dais  on  which  stands  the  j^apal  throne.  The  two  ladies  of  our 
party  were  standing  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  room,  where  they 
were  joined  by  Mr.  Seward  and  Dr.  Smith,  the  private  audience 
being  ended.  All  the  ladies  were  dressed,  according  to  the  court 
requirement,  in  high,  black  dresses,  with  the  Spanish  veil,  and 
without  gloves.  All  the  children  were  dressed  in  white,  and  car- 
ried lilies  for  presentation  to  his  Holiness.  Just  before  twelve 
o'clock  all  the  ladies,  with  the  children,  arranged  themselves  along 
the  opposite  side  of  the  room.  Precisely  at  twelve,  the  Pope  en- 
tered, from  a  door  at  the  side  of  the  dais,  attended  by  cardinals 
and  other  prelates  and  officers.  Among  these  dignitaries  were  the 
Cardinal  Secretary  of  State  Antonelli ;  Monsignore  di  Merode,  late 
Minister  of  War ;  Monsignore  Pacca,  Maggiordomo ;  Cardinal 
Prince  Lucien  Bonaparte  ;  General  Barberini,  Duke  of  Castel  Vec- 
chio,  and  commander-in-chief  of  the  Guarda  Nobile.  The  Pope  wore 
a  white  woollen  cassock,  with  a  yellow-satin  sash,  and  gold  fringe 
hanging  under  his  left  arm.  On  his  head  was  the  crimson  zuc- 
chetto  /  on  his  finger  the  "  Fisherman's  Ring,"  a  inetra  dura^  with 
the  device  emblematic  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  but  without 
jewels.  One  of  the  cardinals  bore  his  red  hat  on  a  cushion.  As 
the  Pope  entered  the  chamber,  all  present  rose  to  their  feet ;  he 
then  proceeded  along  and  in  front  of  the  line  of  devotees,  who 
kneeled  and  remained  in  that  position  until  he  had  passed.  He 
laid  both  hands  on  the  head  of  each  woman  and  child,  saying  to 
each  some  words  in  Italian  in  a  low  voice.  Each  child  presented  a 
lily  with  its  little  hand,  which  the  Pope  received  graciously,  and 
delivered  to  a  cardinal.  "When  he  had  passed  the  entire  line,  he 
crossed  the  room  to  the  place  where  Mr.  Seward  and  his  party  were 
standing  with  Dr.  Smith.  The  Pope  extended  a  hand  to  each  of 
the  ladies,  and  expressed  his  satisfaction  in  meeting  the  children 
of  his  friend  Mr.  Seward,  and  proceeded  to  make  inquiries  as  to 


THE  POPE'S  BLESSING.  679 

their  travels  and  how  they  had  enjoyed  themselves.  Alluding  to 
Mr.  Seward's  infirm  hands,  he  asked  which  of  the  ladies  was  taking 
the  notes  of  his  travels,  thanked  her  for  doing  so,  and  expressed  a 
hope  that  she  would  continue  to  do  it  faithfully.  He  further  asked 
the  ladies  if  they  saw  any  of  the  sufferers  in  the  massacre  at  Tien- 
Tsin,  and,  on  being  answered  that  they  saw  only  the  bishop,  who 
had  given  them  some  of  the  relics  of  the  martyr  Sister  Louise,  he 
said  they  were  precious  tokens.  He  asked  in  which  country  they 
enjoyed  their  travels  most,  and  his  benevolent  face  beamed  with  a 
smile  when  they  told  him  "  Italy."  When  the  ladies  presented 
some  rosaries  and  crosses  brought  from  Jerusalem,  and  asked  him 
to  bless  them,  he  replied,  smiling :  "  Oh,  yes ;  I  bless  them,  but 
they  are  sanctified  already."  At  length,  after  many  minutes  of 
such  gentle  conversation,  he  expressed  his  regret  that  they  did  not 
speak  Italian,  as  in  that  case  he  would  desire  to  talk  much  longer 
with  them.  Then,  taking  once  more  a  kindly  leave,  he  returned  to 
the  dais. 

Standing  there,  he  pronounced  a  short  exhortation,  all  the  Cath- 
olics remaining  on  their  knees.  He  said :  "  I  thank  you  all  for 
your  kindness  in  coming  to  see  me.  I  hope  that  all  my  beloved 
children  will  hold  steadfast  in  the  foith,  and  grow  in  grace  and 
in  good  works."  Then,  extending  bis  arms  he  added,  in  a  soft, 
melodious  voice :  "  To  all  I  will  extend  the  apostolic  benediction  ; 
to  yourselves,  your  children,  your  parents,  and  your  friends,  I 
bless  you,  in  the  name  of  the  Father  who  created  you,  of  the  Son 
who  redeemed  you,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost  who  sanctifieth  you,  and 
in  an  especial  manner  I  bless  the  brave  young  women  from  Amer- 
ica standing  with  Father  Smith  at  my  right  hand.  They  do  not  yet 
belong  to  me,  but  I  charge  Father  Smith  to  take  care  of  them 
while  they  are  in  Rome,  and  give  them  such  counsel  and  instruc- 
tion as  will  bring  them  at  last  into  the  fold  of  Christ's  flock.  I 
shall  pray  for  their  safe  return  to  their  native  land." 

At  the  close  of  this  address  his  Holiness  retired,  with  his  suite. 

August  10th. — Since  our  arrival  in  Italy,  the  Italian  Govern- 
ment has  been  engaged  in  the  act  of  removing  from  Florence  to 


680  EUROPE. 

Rome,  henceforth  to  be  the  national  capital.  Yictor  Emmanuel  has 
been  received,  and,  so  to  speak,  reclaimed  at  Home.  The  Palace 
of  the  Qiiirinal  is  undergoing  repair  for  his  royal  residence.  The 
Legislative  Hall  and  edifices  are  being  reconstructed  for  the  execu- 
tive  departments ;  and  the  ministers  of  the  Government,  as  well  as 
the  foreign  ministers,  have  ostensibly  taken  up  their  residence 
here.  In  this  transition  stage,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Afiairs,  the 
Yisconti  Venosta,  though  here  only  for  two  days,  exchanged  visits 
to-day  with  Mr.  Seward.  He  was  quite  as  free  in  his  account  of 
the  embarrassment  which  the  Italian  Government  sufi'ers  from  the 
obstinacy  of  the  Pope,  as  his  Holiness  was  in  his  account  of  his 
duresse  in  the  Vatican.  The  Visconti  Venosta  represents  that  the 
Italian  people,  while  they  have  become  practically  unanimous  in 
favor  of  the  kingdom  and  the  rule  of  Victor  Emmanuel,  have  lost,  on 
the  other  hand,  little  or  none  of  their  veneration  for  the  Pope,  and 
their  sense  of  obedience  due  to  him  as  the  head  of  the  Church.  It 
is  difficult,  in  the  present  condition  of  afiairs,  to  find  a  boundary- 
line  between  the  ecclesiastical  and  civil  authority,  which  will  sat- 
isfy the  people.  He  denied,  with  much  warmth,  the  allegation 
that  the  Pope  is  under  duresse^  and  says  that  it  is  neither  necessary 
nor  is  it  intended  to  deprive  him  of  any  of  the  privileges  or  proper- 
ties which,  as  head  of  the  Church,  he  enjoys,  further  than  to  trans- 
fer to  the  Government  of  the  state  the  military  force  and  the 
revenues  heretofore  derived  by  him  from  taxation.  "He  will 
live  and  die,"  said  the  Visconti  Venosta,  "free  to  exercise  the  full 
offices  of  the  pontificate  in  the  Vatican,  and  everywhere  else  in 
Italy." 

"We  must  not  leave  it  to  be  inferred  that  we  have  been  inatten- 
tive to  the  modern  schools  of  art  in  Rome.  If  we  have  not  related 
our  visits  to  the  studios  of  our  countrymen  and  women,  it  is  because 
they  are,  with  tout  le  monde,  absent  at  this  season  from  Rome. 
"We  have  admired,  as  every  one  must.  Story's  Cleopatra,  and  the 
Sibyl ;  and  we  have  visited  Benzoni,  perhaps  now  the  head  of  the 
Italian  school.  It  is  manifestly  true,  as  the  world  says,  that  the 
chisels  of  Canova  and  Thorwaldsen,  and  other  modern  sculptors, 
have  not  attained  the  science  and  skill  of  the  Italian  school  of  the 


NAPLES.  081 

middle  ages,  or  those  of  ancient  Greece;  but  the  reason  prob- 
ably is,  that  those  former  schools  flourished  in  an  age  and  under 
conditions  which  concentrated  the  thoughts  of  mankind  upon 
art;  while  our  own  age,  more  practical,  gives  precedence  to  en- 
terprises and  achievements  of  greater  political  and  social  pith  and 
moment. 

'  Naples^  August  Wth. — It  is  a  ten  hours'  journey  from  Rome 
to  IS^aples.  "VVe  can  say  little  more  of  it  than  that  it  is  a  ride, 
under  the  cloudless  Italian  sky,  across  the  Campagna,  and  thence  a 
winding  w^ay  through  native  oak-forests,  ascending  and  descending 
river-banks,  and  Apennine  valleys  covered  with  vines  and  corn, 
until  from  the  mountain-bound  coast  you  descend  to  the  populous 
brink  of  the  unrivalled  circular  Bay  of  Naples. 

In  the  afternoon,  a  small,  light,  fleecy  cloud,  which  changed  its 
form  with  every  passing  breeze,  still  tenaciously  kept  its  place  near 
the  top  of  a  dark,  lofty,  not  irregular  mountain.  This  was  the 
smoke  of  burning  Vesuvius.  But  no  scorim  reached  the  plain 
through  which  we  passed,  nor  did  a  glare  of  flame  appear  until 
nightfall,  when,  after  our  arrival,  we  were  contemplating  the  moun- 
tain from  the  balcony  of  our  hotel.  Then,  what  had  been  a  pillar 
of  smoke  by  day,  became  a  column  of  flame.  A  serpentine  river 
of  fire  w^as  seen  flowing  down  the  mountain-side. 

It  would  be  an  unprofitable,  if  not  a  vain  attempt,  to  trace  the 
early  civilization  on  the  Italian  or  even  the  African  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean.  We  should  be  lost,  with  the  ancient  antiquarians, 
Dion  Cassius  and  Dionysius  Halicarnassus,  in  the  mazes  of  inqui- 
ries concerning  the  movements  of  the  "  Phoenicians,"  the  "  Pelas- 
gians,"  the  "  Autochthones,"  the  "  Indigenes,"  and  "  Alpine  immi- 
grants." But,  long  before  the  Roman  state  was  organized  on  the 
banks  of  the  Tiber,  the  Greeks  had  planted  towns  and  attained  a 
certain  stage  of  civilization  on  the  sea-coast.  Brundusium  (now 
Brindisi),  Pompeii,  Herculaneum,  Neapolis  (now  Naples),  Capua, 
Puteoli,  Baioe,  and  Marseilles,  were  among  those  towns,  and  were 
afterward  absorbed  in  the  Roman  Empire.  The  advantages  of  the 
Bay  of  Naples  in  regard  to  Oriental  commerce,  the  conveniences  it 


682  EUKOPE. 

afforded  for  military  and  naval  expeditions,  the  beauty  and  salu- 
brity of  its  position,  and  its  mineral  springs,  attracted  there  the 
wealth,  the  pomp,  the  ostentation,  the  literature,  and  art,  of  the 
capital.  Judging  from  the  relation  of  Brighton  to  the  British 
capital,  or  Baden-Baden  to  Germany,  or  Newport  to  the  United 
States,  we  could  hardly  estimate  the  importance  which  the  shores 
of  the  Bay  of  Naples  then  enjoyed.  Rome  was  a  well-consolidated 
empire,  two  thousand  miles  long,  one  thousand  miles  broad,  trav- 
ersed by  a  perfect  and  safe  high-road  from  York  in  England  to 
Jerusalem.  It  embraced  all  the  great  cities  of  the  world,  it  had 
two  admirable  languages,  and  a  greater  unity  prevailed  in  all  de- 
partments of  civilization  than  ever  before  existed,  and  scarcely  less 
than  that  which  the  world  now  enjoys.  Puteoli  was  really  the  sea- 
gate  of  Rome.  Nymphs,  naiads,  sirens,  and  genii,  dwelt  in  the 
grottos  and  blue-ocean  caves  around  the  shore.  If  Jupiter  did  not 
remove  there  from  Olympus,  his  swiftest  messenger  permanently 
established  himself  at  Baise,  and  Venus  abandoned  Cyprus  for  this 
fascinating  coast.  The  Sibyls  held  the  book  of  fate,  whose  decrees 
even  Jupiter  could  not  reverse,  in  their  grotto  at  Cumae.  On  the 
shores  of  the  Bay  of  Naples,  also,  was  the  hell  which  in  all  ages 
has  filled  the  imagination  with  the  terrors  of  a  future  state,  and 
the  Elysian  Fields  of  the  blest,  whose  name  even  our  religion 
adopts  as  most  descriptive  of  the  felicity  which  awaits  the  "just 
made  perfect." 

Genoa,  August  ISth. — The  courteous  waving  of  the  stars  and 
stripes  from  our  mast-head  soon  brought  the  consul  on  board,  and 
we  have  given  twenty-four  hours  to  Genoa.  It  has  shown  us  its 
magnificent  harbor  and  almost  impregnable  fortifications,  its  nar- 
row but  neat  and  busy  streets,  the  palaces  and  villas  of  its  doges 
and  noblemen,  of  many  parties  and  generations;  and  its  cathedrals 
and  churches,  all  of  which  have  justly  won  for  the  city  its  title  "la 
Superba."  We  have  seen  its  colleges,  schools,  and  universities ;  its 
academies  of  art  and  science ;  its  manuflictories  of  delicate  fabrics 
and  jewelry ;  its  statuary,  paintings,  monuments,  and  relics,  and 
the  trophies  of  which  it  is  so  justly  proud.     These  all  sustain  the 


GENOA. 


683 


noble  historic  record  of  the  Genoese  in  commerce,  as  the  successors 
of  the  Yenctians ;  in  arms,  as  not  merely  vigorous  in  self-defence 
against  the  rival  states  of  Pisa  and  "Venice,  but  in  conquests  in 


GENOA. 


Spain,  Sardinia,  Greece,  and  Asia  Minor ;  in  wars,  not  merely  for 
self-defence  or  conquest,  but  of  successful  battles  and  sieges  for  the 
Cross — a  career  fall  of  prosperity  and  faith,  now  ended,  aftor  many 
revolutions,  in  the  peaceful  contentment  of  a  united  and  respected 
Italy. 


Susa,  August  19th. — It  has  been  a  matter  of  much  regret  that 
we  were  obliged  to  leave  Milan  unseen,  and  to  come  through 
Turin  without  stopping  at  the  last  capital  of  the  kingdom  of  Sar- 
dinia, and  the  first  one  of  restored  Italy.  But  Mr.  Seward  was 
there  during  his  former  visits  to  Europe,  and  especially  enjoyed 
an  acquaintance  with  Victor  Emmanuel,  and  the  great  restorer  of 


684  EUROPE. 

Italy,  Count  Cavoiir,  who  was  then  in  retirement  on  account  of 
tlie  Treaty  of  Villa  Franca.  It  must,  tlierefore,  be  enough  to  set 
down  the  observation  that,  not  only  has  the  restoration  of  Italian 
unity  or  nationality  originated  in  Piedmont,  but  that,  in  these 
mountain-regions,  the  sentiment  of  the  equality  of  man,  which  is 
conducting  all  nations  toward  the  republican  system  of  govern- 
ment, has  had,  if  not  its  origin,  at  least  early  and  vigorous  de- 
velopment. 

The  separation  of  Church  and  state  is  essential  to  the  advance- 
ment of  modern  Italy.  This  seems  to  be  in  the  way  of  accomplish- 
ment. It  is  not  to  be  expected,  nor  is  it  perhaps  to  be  desired,  that 
the  people  of  Italy,  trained  in  the  ritual  and  traditions  of  the 
Church,  will  all  at  once  renounce  the  ecclesiastical  authority  of  the 
Pope  and  become  Protestant.  But  ecclesiastics  are  not  different 
from  other  men.  They  can  learn  to  submit  in  temporal  affairs  to 
the  authority  of  the  state,  when  they  can  no  longer  control  it. 
Yet  the  permanent  restoration  of  Italy  involves  another  difficulty, 
which  is  of  a  different  kind,  and  a  much  greater  one.  Italy,  in  or- 
der to  succeed,  must  east  off"  monarchy  and  become  a  republic.  A 
federal  republic  cannot  exist  with  a  large  standing  army.  No  state 
in  Europe  is  safe  against  the  ambition  of  monarchical  states  with- 
out a  large  standing  army.  Moreover,  it  is  yet  to  be  seen  whether 
these  reviving,  opulent,  prosperous,  and  intelligent  cities,  which  so 
lately  and  so  long  made  the  fair  fields  of  Italy  the  scene  of  their 
fratricidal  conflicts,  will  be  content  now  to  acquiesce  in  the  restora- 
tion of  Rome  to  its  ancient  and  long-maintained  supremacy. — Adieu 
to  Italy ! 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

SWITZERLAND  AND  FRANCE. 

Geneva. — The  Alps. — The  Tunnel  of  Mont  Cenis. — Paspports. — American  Fondness  for 
Switzerland. — Berne. — Swiss  Statesmen  and  Politics. — Distress  of  France. — ^^fhe 
Franco-German  War. — Lord  Lyons. — Mr.  Washburue. — Versailles. — The  French 
Assembly. — President  Thiers. — A  Dinner  with  President  Thiers. — Condition  of 
France. — M.  Drouyn  de  Lhuys. — M.  Laboulaye. — Dr.  Evans  and  the  Empress  Eu- 
genie..— Aspect  of  Paris. — Prospects  of  France. 

Geneva,  August  21s^. — We  have  had  two  delicious  days  on  the 
Alps.  From  Susa  in  Piedmont,  we  went,  by  a  pass  six  thousand 
feet  high,  around  a  peak  eleven  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  to 
Chambery  in  Savoy ;  thence  up  the  valley  of  the  Rhone.  The  Al- 
pine region,  thus  traversed,  is  colder  and  more  sterile  than  any  we 
have  passed.  Eternal  glaciers  are  suspended  from  the  peaks  of 
moimtains,  down  their  sides,  the  rapid  torrents  of  which  serve  as 
fountains  for  the  Po  on  the  one  side  and  the  Rhone  on  the  other. 

Among  many  interesting  antiquities  at  Susa,  one,  thoroughly  in- 
structive, is  the  inscription,  over  its  ancient  gate-way,  enumerating 
the  eleven  native  tribes  of  the  mountain-region,  and  reciting  that 
the  king  surrenders  his  authority  and  assumes  the  title  of  prefect 
under  the  dominion  of  the  divine  Emperor  Augustus. 

So  it  seems  to  have  been  from  the  beginning  of  the  world ! 
States  are  built  by  overcoming  and  extinguishing  petty,  defenceless, 
and  contentious  tribes.  So  the  United  States  have  extended  their 
dominion,  from  Plymouth  to  San  Francisco,  from  the  St.  Lawrence 
to  the  Rio  Grande. 

The  Alj)s,  which,  from  time  immemorial,  have  been  the  barrier 


686  EUROPE. 

and  defence  of  Italy  against  invasion,  are  just  on  the  eve  of  giving 
up  that  important  distinction.  The  wealth  and  the  vigo;  of  AVest- 
ern  nations  have  spent  two  thousand  years  in  reducing  that  barrier. 
King  Pepin  secured  from  Pope  Stephen  III.  the  honorable  title  of 
"  Eldest  Son  of  the  Church  "  by  leading  an  army  over  it  for  his  relief. 
Louis  XIV.  improved  the  pass  by  sending  a  French  army  across  it 
for  less  spiritual  motives.  Napoleon  I.  constructed  the  military 
road  used  since  his  time.  What  the  spirit  of  conquest  imperfectly 
executed  is  now  to  be  completed  by  commercial  enterprise,  which, 
taking  advantage  of  modern  improvements,  has  projected  the  exca- 
vation and  construction  of  a  tunnel,  with  railroad-track,  twelve 
miles  through  the  base  of  the  mountain.  This  enterprise,  suffi- 
ciently bold  to  mark  the  advance  of  civilization  for  many  centu- 
ries, has  but  two  equals,  both  effected  simultaneously  with  it,  the 
Pacific  Railroad  and  the  Suez  Canal.  We  think  it  fortunate  that 
we  have  enjoyed  the  passage  over  the  mountain  instead  of  coming 
through  the  tunnel,  which  is  to  be  opened  in  two  weeks. 

At  the  frontier  station  we  encountered  our  first  experience  of  a 
state  of  war.  A  French  ofiicer  demanded  our  passports,  and  vised 
them  with  care.  This  incident  recalled  a  suggestion,  made  to  the 
Emperor  Xapoleon  in  1859,  that  nothing  would  impress  the  people 
of  the  United  States  so  favorably  as  an  abolition  of  the  passport 
system,  to  which  he  answered,  giving  the  usual  reasons  for  that 
form  of  political  espionage.  When,  three  years  later,  the  United 
States  fell  into  civil  war,  and  established  rigorous  passport  regula- 
tions, which  continued  even  after  its  close,  M.  Berthemy,  the 
French  minister  at  Washington,  expostulated  against  a  system 
which  France  had  then  given  up.  Now,  we  have  left  the  United 
States,  with  the  passport  system  abolished,  only  to  find  it  restored 
in  France  and  Germany. 

We  entered  Switzerland  by  the  valley  of  the  Rhone,  and,  fol- 
lowing its  winding  and  highly-cultivated  banks,  we  reached  Geneva 
this  evening. 

As  the  cars  stopped,  the  fiimiliar  expression  was  heard,  in  plain 
English,  "  There  is  the  governor ; "  and  in  a  very  few  moments  we 
were  conducted  by  the  zealous  and  esteemed  consul,  Mr,  Upton, 


SWITZERLAND.  687 

a  Virginia  loyalist,  to  delightful  ajDartments  in  the  Metropolitan 
Hotel,  on  the  shore  of  lovely  Lake  Leinan. 

August  2od. — We  seem  here  to  have  come  upon  the  verge  of 
home.  London  papers  only  one  day  old,  New  York  telegrams 
only  six  hours  old.     The  hotels  are  full  of  Americans. 

What  is  it  that  makes  Americans  so  much  frequent,  haunt,  and 
linger  in  Switzerland  ?  Is  it  not  for  the  same  reason  that  people 
frequent,  haunt,  and  linger  about  a  looking-glass,  especially  if  it  be 
a  convex  one  that  softens  their  hard  features,  by  presenting  them 
in  miniature  ?  What  is  Switzerland,  with  its  mountains,  glaciers, 
forests,  cliffs,  lakes,  cataracts,  and  rivers — M'hat  is  it  as  a  political 
state,  with  its  twenty-five  cantons  and  half  cantons,  its  Federal 
Council  and  Administration,  its  cantonal  legislatures,  universal 
suffrage,  and  eligibility  to  office,  its  assignment  of  war,  peace,  and 
foreign  relations  to  the  Federal  Government,  and  its  allotment  of  the 
protection  of  life,  liberty,  and  property  to  local  legislatures  and 
tribunals,  its  universal  education,  voluntary  if  the  people  will,  com- 
pulsory if  they  will  not,  its  practical  religious  toleration — but  vast 
North  America  compressed  within  an  area  scarcely  two  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  square — the  United  States  in  miniature? 

Berne,  August  ^'Sth. — The  United  States  minister,  Mr.  Eublee, 
like  most  ministers  at  this  season,  is  travelling.  His  secretary, 
Captain  Aschmann,  a  Swiss  volunteer  in  the  United  States  Army, 
who  lost  a  leg  at  the  battle  of  Fair  Oaks,  met  us  at  the  railroad- 
station,  and  informed  us  that  the  President^'*?  tern,  of  the  Federal 
Council,  in  the  absence  of  the  chief,  would  call  upon  Mr.  Seward 
immediately  on  his  arrival  at  the  hotel.  The  republican  character 
of  the  Government  could  have  no  better  illustration  than  the  ap- 
pearance of  that  gentleman,  Mr.  Welti,  and  his  tender  of  the  hospi- 
talities of  the  capital.  There  was  neither  coach,  nor  equipage,  nor 
guard,  nor  banner,  nor  sword,  nor  mace,  nor  uniform.  Mr.  Welti 
came,  introduced  only  by  Captain  Aschmann.  He  was  dressed  in 
a  suit  of  plain  gray  clothes,  such  as  a  citizen  might  wear  in  a  rural 
town  of  the  United  States.     Long  connected,  however,  with  the 


GS8  EUROPE. 

Government,  having  in  his  time  more  than  once  presided  in  the 
Council  of  State  of  which  he  is  now  a  member,  he  is  well  informed, 
and  his  conversation  was  as  instructive  as  it  was  interesting.  He 
expressed  a  high  personal  satisfaction  in  his  recollection  of  the  fact 
that,  in  the  treaty  for  the  settlement  of  the  San  Juan  question 
(made  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  during  the 
administration  of  Mr.  Johnson,  but  which  failed  of  ratification  by 
the  Senate,  together  with  the  Alabama  Claims  Treaty,  of  the  same 
period),  he,  being  President  of  the  Swiss  Council,  had  been  named 
as  umpire.  He  explained  to  Mr.  Seward,  well  and  ably,  the  finan- 
cial condition  of  this  little  republic,  and  the  entire  contentment  of 
its  people  with  their  republican  institutions.  Without  an  emperor, 
without  a  king,  without  a  duke  or  count,  without  a  pope,  arch- 
bishop, bishop  or  prelate,  with  only  a  Council  of  Ministers  chosen 
by  the  Legislature  annually  from  the  Council  of  State,  wnth  only 
an  organized  voluntary  militia,  in  lieu  of  a  standing  army,  Swit- 
zerland has  no  foreign  wars,  no  controversies,  no  domestic  disturb- 
ance, and  life,  liberty,  and  property,  are  as  safe  in  the  darkest,  re- 
motest mountain-glen,  as  they  are  in  any  city  under  the  protection 
of  the  best  police  in  the  world. 

Mr.  Seward  inquired  for  Mr.  Stnempfli,  late  President  of  the 
Federal  Council,  and  long  the  leading  statesman  of  the  republic. 
He  has  retired  from  the  administration  to  assume  the  management 
of  a  bank,  an  illustration  how  the  character  of  Gallatin  was  formed, 
and  how  it  happened  that  ]S"ecker  was  called  to  restore  the  depleted 
treasury  of  France. 

The  present  Federal  Constitution  of  Switzerland  is  framed  quite 
closely  on  the  United  States  model ;  the  Legislature  is  composed  of 
two  Houses — the  Council  of  State  consisting  of  two  representatives 
from  each  canton ;  the  other  House  consisting  of  representatives 
apportioned  according  to  the  population. 

Mr.  Welti  says  that  there  is  even  in  Switzerland  a  class  of  poli- 
tical reformers,  agitators,  radicals,  who  demand  the  abolition  of  the 
Council  of  State,  so  that  there  shall  be  only  one  legislative  body. 
He  is  opposed  to  this  change. 

Mr.  Seward  hoped  that  it  would  not  be  made.     He  said  that,  in 


MR.  WELTI.  689 

tlie  beginning  of  our  republic,  there  was  a  division  on  the  subject 
of  the  legislature  in  the  United  States.  Hamilton,  with  AVashing- 
ton,  gave  a  decided  preference  to  two  Houses.  Dr.  Franklin,  influ- 
enced by  sympathy  with  the  French  reformers,  advocated  a  single 
one.  Hamilton's  proposition  prevailed  in  the  Federal  Government 
and  in  all  the  States  except  Pennsylvania,  where  Franklin's  influ- 
ence secured  a  sino-le  leo;islative  bodv.  But  even  that  was  soon 
afterward  changed.  France,  whenever  she  has  been  republican, 
has  adhered  to  a  single  legislative  chamber.  Mexico  has  followed 
the  example  of  France.  It  is  a  singular  fact  that  the  republican 
system  has  failed,  or  met  with  only  partial  success,  wherever  only 
one  legislative  body  is  established,  and  it  has  not  failed  anywhere 
else. 

Mr.  "Welti  inquired  of  Mr.  Seward  whether  the  United  States 
would  aid  Switzerland  in  claiming  the  rights  of  a  maritime  power 
on  the  high-seas. 

Mr.  Seward  thought  that,  in  the  absence  of  a  seaport,  other  na- 
tions were  not  likely  to  make  such  a  concession  to  Switzerland,  but 
he  expressed  his  belief  that  as  Switzerland,  by  reason  of  its  repub- 
lican institutions,  has  become  an  asylum  and  refuge  for  all  political 
exiles,  the  free  states  of  the  world  ought  to  agree  to  guarantee  to 
Switzerland  safety  against  aggression  or  threats  of  arbitrary  pow- 
ers. Will  Switzerland  remain  a  republic?  Yes,  it  is  to  be  ex- 
pected as  confidently  as  it  is  to  be  earnestly  hoped.  Her  safety 
finds  a  guarantee  in  the  zeal,  loyalty,  and  patriotism  of  her  people, 
not  less  than  in  the  decline  of  the  despotic  principle  in  the  once- 
aggressive  nations  by  whom  she  is  surrounded.  Even  Austria  is 
more  likely  to  become  republican  than  Switzerland  is  to  relapse 
from  that  system. 

And  now  the  president  has  retired,  the  capital  has  been  ex- 
plored, the  great  town-clock  of  the  cathedral,  eleven  hundred  years 
old,  has  struck  the  hour  of  twelve,  with  the  pomp  and  parade  of  a 
royal  review ;  we  have  fed  the  bears  of  Berne,  given  a  letter  of 
thanks  to  the  veteran  and  wounded  Swiss  attache,  and  we  are  en- 
tering the  cars  which  are  to  convey  us  through  la  belle  France,  to 
her  mourning  and  disconsolate  capital. 


690  EUROPE. 

Paris,  August  2Gth. — We  left  Berne  rapidlj  behind  us,  and, 
following  the  shore  of  the  long  and  beautiful  Lake  Neufchatel,  left 
Switzerland,  with  its  glorious  mountains  and  cascades,  its  rich 
grazing-grounds,  and  its  simple,  sparse,  and  rustic  population,  and, 
coming  to  the  region  between  the  Ehine  and  the  Ehone,  entered 
Burgundy,  admiring  the  Cote  d'Or,  with  its  magnificent  vintages 
and  frequent  villages,  and  reached  Dijon  at  eleven  o'clock. 

In  frontier  France,  which  we  had  passed  on  the  way  through 
Chambery  to  Geneva,  and  again  on  the  railway  from  Berne  to 
Dijon,  we  saw  only  painful  manifestations  of  public  and  private 
sorrow  and  anxiety.  The  more  rude  and  simple  the  peasantry,  the 
more  the  men  betrayed  a  consciousness  of  pressing  perplexity,  and 
everv  woman  was  in  habiliments  of  mournino;.  There  w^as  neither 
activity,  nor  curiosity,  nor  interest  of  any  kind.  When  the  trains, 
abated  of  their  magnitude  and  importance,  arrived  at  an  unex- 
pected hour  at  the  railroad-stations,  there  were  no  crowds,  nor 
equipages,  nor  display  of  any  kind  in  the  streets  of  Paris,  and  we 
seemed  especially  welcome  at  Meurice's  Hotel,  of  which  only  a  few 
apartments  are  occupied,  and  those  by  Americans  exclusively. 

When  we  left  Auburn  last  year,  a  war  between  France  and 
Prussia,  the  causes  of  which  were  laid  fifty  years  ago,  and  which 
had  been  four  years  in  preparation,  had  just  opened.  The  task  of 
reorganizing  political  and  ecclesiastical  institutions  in  France  had 
become  inevitable  at  the  close  of  the  last  century.  The  nations  of 
Europe,  taking  alarm  at  the  boldness  of  the  innovations,  combined 
to  uphold  the  ancient  Church  and  state,  and  to  suppress  a  revolution 
which  threatened  subversion  of  all  existing  authority  in  Europe. 
France  resisted  the  intervention  with  a  vigor  and  a  power  which, 
while  it  maintained  her  integrity,  had  only  been  acquired  by  the 
sacrifice  of  accepting  the  military  despotism  of  Xapoleon  in  place 
of  the  republican  institutions  she  had  ardently  desired  to  establish. 
Napoleon's  ambition  urged  him  to  push  beyond  the  bounds  of  pos- 
sibility the  retaliation  which  France  had  inaugurated.  His  throne 
and  the  sway  which  he  had  established  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Adriatic,  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  Zuyder-Zee,  perished  to- 
gether in  1814,  and  a  compromise  ensued,  irksome  and  hateful  to 


"THE   MOTHER   OF   GERMAN   UNITY."  691 

both  parties.  While  Austria,  Prussia,  Italy,  and  Belgium,  had 
conceded  to  France  too  much  for  their  own  contentment,  France 
had  been  cramped  within  boundaries  too  small  for  her  ambition. 
Fifty  years  of  peace,  such  as  Europe  had  never  enjoyed,  invigorated 
all  the  parties.  The  people  of  France,  impatient  of  tranquillity 
and  contentment  incompatible  with  the  glorious  memories  of  Na- 
poleon, of  Louis  XIY.,  of  Henry  lY.,  and  Charlemagne,  demanded 
of  the  new  empire  political  activity  and  demonstration.  Napoleon 
III.  complied,  and,  by  a  master-stroke  of  policy,  combined  with  Great 
Britain  in  giving  check  at  Sevastopol  to  the  ambition  of  the  Czar. 
Havino-  thus  established  an  alliance  with  Great  Britain,  an  ancient 
enemy  and  always  a  powerful  rival,  Napoleon  yielded  to  the  na- 
tional ambition  by  lending  that  effective  assistance  to  Sardinia 
which  resulted  in  expelling  Austria,  and  restoring,  after  a  lapse  of 
a  thousand  years,  a  united  and  independent  Italy.  The  military 
ambition  of  France  thus  renewed  demanded  new  achievements, 
and  looked  for  them  across  the  Rhine.  Napoleon,  too  wise  for 
such  an  expedition,  sought  to  compromise  by  an  expedition  to 
Mexico,  which  he  apprehended  could  be  safely  made  by  reason  of 
the  distance  of  the  field  where  battle  was  to  be  given,  the  isolation 
and  feebleness  of  that  state,  resulting  from  universal  discontents, 
and  the  demoralization  of  the  United  States,  the  only  probable 
ally  of  Mexico,  by  a  civil  war  promising  nothing  less  than  a  disso- 
lution of  the  republic.  Each  of  the  two  expeditions  proved  a  great 
mistake.  The  national  union  of  Italy  proved,  in  the  language  of 
President  Thiers,  to  be  "  the  mother  of  German  unity."  The  inva- 
sion of  Mexico  gratified  neither  the  ambition  nor  the  pride  of  the 
French  people,  and  its  hasty  abandonment  exposed  the  empire  to 
contempt  at  home  and  insult  abroad.  Meantime  Prussia,  availing 
herself  of  the  defeat  and  humiliation  which  France  and  Italy  had 
already  inflicted  upon  Austria,  made  successful  war  against  that 
rival,  and,  depriving  her  of  German  provinces  and  allies,  consoli- 
dated all  of  Western  Germany  into  a  broad  and  majestic  empire, 
equal,  at  least  in  population,  resources,  energy,  and  martial  spirit, 
to  France.  The  French  now  impetuously  demanded  war  against 
Prussia.     United  Germany  saw  that  the  hour  for  her  retaliation 


692  .   EUROPE. 

had  come  ;  she  accepted  the  gage  of  battle.  Wlien  we  left  home, 
Napoleon  on  the  Prussian  border  was  telegraphing  to  the  empress- 
regent  his  first  success.  Before  we  embarked  at  San  Francisco  we 
heard  only  of  French  repulses,  reverses,  and  defeats.  Then  for 
nearly  four  weeks  all  intelligence  was  cut  off  from  us.  In  Japan, 
we  heard  that  the  emperor  had  become  a  prisoner  at  Sedan,  and  that 
the  empress  with  her  son  had  taken  refuge  in  England.  Thence- 
forward, as  we  advanced  westward,  the  Germans  were  marching  on 
Yersailles.  France  could  obtain  peace  only  by  reorganization  with 
the  German  army  on  her  soil,  and  at  the  gates  of  her  capital.  Then 
came  the  republic,  with  Gambetta  at  its  head ;  then  a  National  As- 
sembly at  Bordeaux.  Next  the  organization  of  the  Communists  at 
Paris  to  resist  the  National  Assembly  at  Bordeaux ;  then  the  re- 
moval of  the  National  Assembly  to  Yersailles  in  the  presence  of 
the  German  invaders,  and  the  election  of  Thiers  as  provisional 
president ;  then  the  frightful  anarchy  of  the  Commune  at  Paris, 
only  suppressed  by  the  decimation  of  its  leaders  by  the  French 
army,  now  under  the  direction  of  President  Thiers,  and  then  a  col- 
lapse. What  that  collapse  signilied,  whether  a  renewal  of  anarchy, 
or  an  exhaustion  of  the  forces  of  anarchy,  no  one  knew.  Timid 
and  peace-loving  people  avoided  France  and  Paris  as  one  might 
avoid  Vesuvius  when  its  fires  had  subsided,  but  the  rumbling,  in- 
ternal commotion  still  continued.  The  destinies  of  France,  so  far 
as  they  depended  upon  herself,  were  in  the  hands  of  a  popular  as- 
sembly at  Versailles,  a  body  of  seven  hundred,  consisting  of  dis- 
cordant factions,  each  of  whom  thought  its  hour  for  complete  tri- 
umph was  at  hand.  These  parties  had  compromised  on  an  admin- 
istration which  was  allowed  to  preside  and  mediate  for  only  one 
reason — ^namely,  that  it  assumed  the  responsibility  of  relie^dng  the 
French  nation,  as  soon  as  it  should  be  practicable,  of  the  German 
invaders.  President  Thiers  was  at  the  head  of  the  administration, 
and  Jules  Favre  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

When  we  arrived  in  Paris,  this  morning,  we  found  that  the 
30th  of  this  month  has  been  assigned  for  a  debate,  in  which  the 
four  parties  are  to  decide  their  mutual  contest.  The  partisans  of 
the  old  regime  are  expected  to  strike  for  the  ancient  monarchy  un- 


PARIS.  693 

der  the  Count  de  Chambord.  The  Orleanists  claim  the  throne  for 
the  Count  de  Paris.  There  are  rumors  and  hopes  and  fears  of  a 
coalition  between  the  two  monarchical  factions.  The  republicans 
will  have  neither  of  these,  nor  the  empire,  while  the  imperialists 
think  that  these  divisions  will  enable  them  to  restore  the  emperor, 
who  has  been  released  from  his  German  prison,  and  is  now  in 
exile  in  England. 

August  '2^th. — "We  dined  to-day  with  Lord  Lyons,  to  whom  Mr. 
Seward  is  warmly  attached  by  reason  of  his  honorable  and  upright 
conduct  as  minister  of  Great  Britain  to  the  United  States,  in  the 
early  years  of  our  civil  war. 

France  is  a  type,  although  an  exaggeration,  of  modern  political 
ideas.  '  Nations  will  not  consent  to  remain  indefinitely  under  any 
dynasty  or  personal  authority.  They  not  only  want  frequent 
changes,  but  they  have  found  out  the  secret  of  making  such 
changes.  In  the  United  States  we  have  fortunately  a  legal  and 
orderly  means  of  gratifying  this  desire  for  change.  Our  Consti- 
tution allows  the  people  to  choose  their  own  governmental  head, 
but  requires  them  to  abide  by  his  authority  only  four  years.  Every 
four  years  they  can  turn  him  out. 

August  28th. — In  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  instead  of  the  crowd 
of  equipages  round  the  cortege  of  the  emperor,  under  the  majestic 
trees  and  near  the  crystal  lakes,  we  now  found  only  one  carriage, 
which  bore  Schung  Hao,  the  Chinese  ambassador,  who  came  to 
Paris  to  explain  and  palliate  the  Tien-Tsin  massacre.  He  is  now 
returning  home,  after  having  failed  to  receive  a  word  of  courtesy 
or  kindness  from  President  Thiers,  who  is  at  the  same  time  con- 
strained, by  the  sad  condition  of  France,  to  make  no  demonstra- 
tion or  declaration  hostile  to  China. 

August  Slst. — Mr.  Washburne,  the  United  States  minister,  re- 
mained in  Paris  during  the  entire  siege,  keeping  up,  as  well  as  he 
could,  official  communication  with  the  Provisional  Government, 
first  at  Bordeaux,  then  at  Versailles.    He  was  enjoying  a  short  res- 


694  EUROPE.    , 

pite  of  absence  at  the  time  of  our  arrival.  He  came  to  town  on  the 
29th,  and,  after  giving  us  a  kind  welcome,  presented  a  note  from  M. 
Remusat,  the  newly-appointed  Minister  for  Foreign  Afiairs,  inviting 
Mr.  Seward  to  Yersailles.  Yesterday  morning,  not  caring  to  use 
what  is  called  here  the  "  American  Railroad,"  we  proceeded  by  car- 
riage to  Yersailles,  passing  through  the  Bois  de  Boulogne.  Splen- 
did St.  Cloud  is  a  blackened  ruin,  and,  as  it  seemed,  countless  forts 
on  either  side  have  been  stormed  and  demolished.  Detachments 
of  the  late  contending  armies  are  scattered  in  the  villages  along 
the  road — now  a  battalion  or  brigade  of  the  French  army,  now  of 
the  Germans.  There  seems  to  be  no  intercourse  between  them, 
and  doubtless  each  is  weary  of  the  other's  presence.  Driving 
through  Passy,  where  Franklin  resided  during  his  mission  to 
France,  a  curious  reflection  came  over  us  :  How  much  of  this 
strange,  eventful  career,  which  France  has  endured,  was  due  to 
the  blandishments  of  our  philosophic,  persuasive,  and  skilful  en- 
voy ?  Certainly  he  procured  the  not  unwilling  ^consent  of  Louis 
XYL,  and  the  spirited  concurrence  of  Marie  Antoinette,  to  the 
treaty  between  France  and  the  United  States,  which  led  to  our 
national  independence,  and  consequently  to  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, with  its  awful  catastrophe.  Could  any  other  than  Franklin 
•bave  gained  that  treaty  ?  Doubtful.  Had  it  not  been  gained, 
might  not  the  kingdom  of  Louis  have  withstood  the  tempest  ? 

Yersailles  is  a  magnificent  town  of  thirty  thousand  people,  who 
enjoy  streets  broader  than  those  of  Yienna,  and  dwellings  not  less 
superb  than  those  of  Genoa.  So  lately  the  headquarters  of  German 
occupation,  and  now  the  seat  of  the  provisional  government,  the  old 
town  assumes  a  tone  of  activity.  The  government  at  Yersailles  is 
not  fixed,  like  the  other  courts  we  have  visited,  but  is  provisional  and 
almost  military.  "We  stopped  at  the  hotel.  Grooms  would  take  the 
horses  ;  as  for  ourselves,  we  might  sit  in  the  small  room  adjoining 
the  conciergerie,  or  we  might  walk  through  the  restaurant  and  sit 
under  the  shade-trees  in  front  of  the  house.  More  than  five  hun- 
dred well-dressed,  active  gentlemen  were  being  served,  in  groups  of 
from  two  to  half  a  dozen  each,  with  all  the  clatter  and  din  of  a  rapid 
breakfast.     These  were  the  members  of  the  Provisional  Assembly  of 


\t:esailles.  *  695 

France.  Breakfast  over,  Mr.  Seward,  with  Mr.  "Washbiime,  went  to 
the  Department  of  Foreign  Aflairs.  The  minister,  M.  Remusat,  a 
grandson  of  General  Lafayette,  is  an  intellectual  and  accomplished 
man,  and  always  a  firm,  consistent  republican.  The  reception, 
though  necessarily  short,  was  genial,  free,  and  very  friendly.  The 
Provisional  Assembly  was  to  meet  at  twelve  o'clock.  The  debate 
might  involve  a  national  crisis.  M.  Thiers,  as  provisional  chief  of 
the  state,  must  attend  and  be  deeply  engaged  during  the  day.  He 
would  receive  Mr.  Seward  at  his  house  at  eight  o'clock  in  the 
evening.  Thence  we  hastened  to  the  Assembly,  and  the  way  was 
opened,  by  oflScials  of  the  Government,  through  an  immense  crowd 
composed  of  respectable  and  intelligent  people,  to  the  diplomatic 
box. 

The  members,  assembling  on  the  floor  below,  were  engaged  in 
conversational  groups.  In  the  diplomatic  box  were  an  English  lady 
and  gentleman,  who  politely  left  the  comfortable  front  seat  for  Mr. 
Seward  and  chose  the  adjoining  ones.  The  box  soon  filled  up  with 
persons  introduced  by  their  legation,  as  we  had  been  by  ours. 

Promptly,  at  the  appointed  hour,  the  president,  M.  Grevy,  took 
the  chair,  and  called  the  Assembly  to  order.  There  was  a  numer- 
ous array  of  clerks  and  reporters.  With  great  rapidity,  oflicial 
reports  of  the  ministry  were  presented  and  referred,  of  course,  to 
the  respective  committees,  as  in  our  legislative  assemblies ;  while 
the  Chamber,  like  them,  presented  a  scene  ot  confusion  which  ren- 
dered any  attention  to  the  order  of  business  by  the  members  im- 
possible. At  length,  the  special  order  of  the  day  was  announced. 
The  question,  in  effect,  was  the  vital  one  whether  the  Assembly, 
which  had  been  convened  to  organize  a  government,  to  make  a 
treaty  of  peace  with  Prussia,  and  which  had  now  accomjilished  thnt 
object,  ought  not  to  resign  its  powers.  A  deputy  mounted  the 
tribune  and  began  to  read  a  speech  to  the  Chamber,  hushed  in 
silence  just  long  enough  to  allow  the  speaker  to  indicate  his  posi- 
tion ;  then  followed  a  wild  uproar  of  voices  ;  acclamations  from  the 
"right,"  the  moderate  republicans,  interrupted  by  the  extremists; 
and  grumblings,  challenges,  and  defiances,  from  the  conservative 
members.     The  discontented  rose  in  their  seats  with  violent  objur- 


696  EUROPE. 

gations  and  gesticulations ;  the  supporters  of  the  speaker  rose, 
vociferously  applauding  him  and  denouncing  the  interruption.  By 
some  arrangement  which  we  did  not  understand,  the  representatives 
of  the  several  political  parties  alternated  in  the  tribune.  From  the 
moderate  republican  who  began,  to  the  extreme  republican  sus- 
pected of  communism  who  opposed,  the  sagacious  and  loyal  Orlean- 
ist,  the  obstinate  and  impracticable  legitimist,  to  the  crafty  but 
non-subdued  imperialist — every  speaker  was  received  and  his  utter- 
ances drowned  in  the  same  manner ;  except  that  the  more  radical 
republicans  awakened  a  general  burst  of  defiance  and  denunciation 
throughout  the  whole  Chamber.  The  president  continually  rang 
his  bell,  and  in  some  way  or  other  the  debate  went  on  intelligibly 
to  him  and  to  the  House,  but  utterly  incomprehensible  to  the  audi- 
ence. 

The  stormy  scene  excited  our  wonder.  In  our  own  Congress, 
the  speaker,  rising  in  his  place,  utters,  in  a  well-considered  and 
careful  form,  an  argument  which  everybody  knows  will  be  found, 
the  next  morning,  in  the  daily  press ;  will  be  seized  upon  and  read 
in  every  city  and  district ;  and  have  its  proper  effect  in  forming  the 
national  opinion,  which,  reacting  on  Congress,  will  decide  the  meas- 
ure discussed.  The  House  seldom  cares  to  listen,  and  the  mem- 
bers are  engaged  in  conversation  or  correspondence. 

This  National  Assembly  of  France,  on  the  contrary,  seems  to 
regard  the  debate  as  a  combat  in  which  the  question  is  to  be  de- 
cided by  the  House  itself,  at  once  and  according  to  the  balance  of 
argument  in  the  heat  of  passion.  What  is  still  more  remarkable  is, 
that  all  this  vehemence,  violence,  and  excitement,  is  displayed  only 
by  members  in  their  places.  We  heard  Jules  Favre,  Louis  Blanc, 
Picard,  and  Gambetta,  at  the  tribune,  and  their  well-constructed 
and  carefully-guarded  speeches,  read  without  the  least  excitement 
or  gesticulation,  would,  but  for  their  remarkable  brevity,  have 
seemed  dull  and  monotonous. 

At  the  expiration  of  two  hours,  the  difficulty  of  reaching  an  har- 
monious adjustment  amid  such  tumultuous  demonstrations  excited 
an  apprehension  that  the  Assembly  would  break  up  in  disorder,  if 
not  with  scenes  of  violence ;  and  that,  before  long,  hostile  forces 


THE  FRENCH  ASSEMBLY.  697 

might  be  renewing  the  civil  war,  hardly  yet  completely  suppressed. 
Some  of  the  European  diplomates,  in  the  gallery,  declared  that 
France  was  unequal  to  her  great  destiny ;  that  law,  order,  govern- 
ment, and  society,  can  only  be  preserved  through  central  and  abso- 
lute power.  The  violent  scene  now  culminated ;  the  president  using 
his  last  remedy,  announced  his  determination  to  dissolve  the  As- 
sembly if  his  appeal  to  order  should  be  disregarded.  This  brought 
the  Chamber  to  a  moment  of  calm  reflection.  He  then  demanded, 
from  the  latest  disturber  of  the  debate,  a  retraction  and  apology  for 
having  indulged  in  language  of  insult  and  threat  unbecoming  the 
majesty  of  debate.  The  speaker,  one  perhaps  of  a  hundred  who 
had  equally  offended,  thus  brought  singly  before  the  House,  ex- 
plained, regretted,  and  apologized.  Though  the  House  seemed 
willing  to  forgive,  the  president  was  not  satisfied ;  he  demanded 
further  apology,  and  it  was  given.  He  announced  that  the  debate 
might  now  go  on,  at  the  peril,  however,  of  the  dissolution  of  the 
Assembly  if  the  bounds  of  decorum  should  be  passed.  The  more 
judicious  speakers  seemed  to  have  reserved  themselves  for  such  a 
crisis.  After  this  every  speech,  while  firm,  was  conciliatory  and 
full  of  concern  for  the  public  peace,  and  showed  due  and  deliberate 
consideration.  The  danger  was  over — the  National  Assembly 
would  not  dissolve  until  the  Provisional  Government  should  have 
more  eflfectually  provided  for  the  exigencies  of  the  state. 

The  atmosphere  of  the  hall  was  hot  to  suflocation,  but  all  the 
members  remained  in  their  seats,  and  nearly  all  the  audience.  We 
left  to  obtain  fresh  air,  and  to  improve  the  three  or  four  hours  of 
the  day  which  remained  in  seeing  royal  Yersailles.  An  hour  later, 
we  were  joined  by  friends  whom  we  had  left  in  the  Chamber,  who, 
meeting  us  in  the  magnificent  gardens  of  the  palace,  informed  us 
that  the  debate  had  closed ;  that  the  Chamber  had  adopted,  by  a  de- 
cisive majority,  a  declaration  that  their  body  is  itself  a  constituent 
Assembly,  with  all  the  powers  adequate  to  the  government  and  re- 
organization of  the  nation. 

At  nine  o'clock,  Mr.  Seward,  accompanied  by  M.  Geofii'oy,  for- 
merly charge  d'affaires  at  Washington,  proceeded  to  the  palace  of 
President  Thiers,  the  same  which  was  occupied  by  the  King  of 


698  EUROPE. 

Prussia  during  liis  sojourn  at  Versailles.  The  guards,  ushers,  and 
servants,  numerous  enough  and  elegant  enough  in  costume  for  an 
imperial  residence',  were  in  waiting,  and  Mr.  Seward  and  M.  Geof- 
froy  were  shown  up  the  grand  staircase  and  through  the  suite  of 
antechambers  only  less  numerous  and  magnificent  than  those  of 
the  Vatican,  and  a  series  of  gorgeous  drawing-rooms  in  which  not 
a  soul  was  visible.  Passing  through  these  to  the  farthest  one,  they 
found  a  lady  sitting  by  an  open  window.  This  was  Madame 
Thiers,  the  amiable  wife  of  the  president.  Pising,  she  gave  Mr. 
Seward  her  hand,  and  invited  him  to  sit  down.  Congratulating 
him  on  his  arrival,  she  entertained  the  gentlemen  for  half  an  hour 
with  conversation  in  perfect  English.  At  the  opposite  side  of  the 
room,  her  sister  was  conversing  with  the  only  other  visitor.  Dur- 
ing the  evening,  four  or  five  gentlemen  entered  the  drawing-room, 
and  were  received  by  Madame  Thiers.  Half-past  ten  o'clock  came, 
and  Mr.  Seward  was  about  taking  his  leave,  when  Madame  Thiers 
said  that  M.  Thiers  had  returned  utterly  exhausted  by  the  day's 
debate,  and  had  thrown  himself  on  a  sofa  for  a  few  minutes'  sleep, 
after  which  he  would  join  them  in  the  drawing-room.  She  would 
waken  him  at  once.  Mr.  Seward,  well  appreciating  the  president's 
labors  during  the  day,  protested  that  she  should  not,  but  Madame 
Thiers  said  she  was  sure  that  the  president  would  be  grieved  and 
disappointed.  Conducting  Mr.  Seward  across  the  hall,  to  an  ante- 
chamber, she  brought  him  to  a  low,  broad  sofa,  where  the  weary 
statesman  was  snatching  his  few  moments  of  repose.  Mr.  Seward 
begged  that  he  might  not  be  aroused,  and  insisted  on  taking  his 
leave.  Madame  Thiers  remained  with  the  president,  and,  before 
Mr.  Seward  had  reached  the  distant  drawing-room  door,  overtook 
him,  with  the  president,  now  awakened  from  his  slumbers.  Mr. 
Seward  saluted  him  with  a  compliment  expressing  his  high  respect, 
which  M.  Thiers  received  courteously,  and  reciprocated  by  many 
kind  expressions  of  compliment,  and  regret  that  his  guest  should 
have  been  kept  waiting.  He  then  invited  Mr.  Seward  to  remain 
all  night  at  the  palace,  and  to  bring  his  family  next  week  to  remain 
at  Versailles.  Mr.  Seward,  declining  the  profiered  hospitality  with 
many  thanks,  replied  that  he  was  to  leave  Paris  next  Tuesday,  and 


PRESIDENT   THIERS.  699 

had  engagements  to  dine,  whicli  would  keep  him  there  on  Monday. 
"  To-morrow,  then,"  said  the  president ;  "  come  to-morrow."  Mr. 
Seward  promised  to  do  so,  retm-ned  with  M.  Geofi'roy  to  his  car- 
riage, and  ari'ived  at  Meurice's  in  the  early  dawn. 

September  1st. — The  Chamber  of  Deputies  yesterday  brought  to 
a  happy  solution  the  political  question  which  had  so  perplexed  and 
alarmed  France.  They  declared  that  the  executive  power  should 
remain  with  M.  Thiers  ;  that  his  title  should  be  that  of  President 
of  the  French  Kepublic  ;  that  he  should  hold  his  place  three  years, 
and  have  full  power  to  administer  the  government,  being  always 
responsible  to  the  people.  All  Versailles  and  all  Paris  are  reas- 
sured, if  not  content. 

"We  dined  last  evening  with  President  Thiers,  the  party  consist- 
ing of  M.  Remusat,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  M.  GeoiFroy, 
and  a  few  of  the  president's  official  friends.  President  Thiers  is  a 
short,  stout  man,  looking  about  seventy-five,  remarkably  erect  and 
firm.  He  has  a  large  and  regularly-developed  head ;  his  thick  hair, 
perfectly  white  and  stiff,  is  cut  short  and  briished  scrupulously  off" 
his  forehead  and  over  his  temples.  His  eyes  are  black,  but  sj^ar- 
kling  and  genial,  his  complexion  florid,  and  even  youthful.  The 
heavy  folds  of  his  white  cravat,  and  his  elegantly-cut,  tightly-fitting, 
closely-buttoned  dress-coat,  make  him  look  as  if  he  had  just  stepped 
out  of  an  old  Flemish  picture ;  and,  when  he  speaks,  his  gentle  voice 
seems  less  like  the  commanding  utterance  of  the  ruling  statesman 
of  a  great  and  convulsed  nation,  than  an  echo  from  the  past.  His 
conversation  is  vivacious,  and  imbued  not  so  much  with  a  sense  of 
gratified  ambition  as  of  sanguine  hope  and  confidence  in  the  resto- 
ration of  his  country.  Explaining  to  Mr.  Seward  the  reasons  which 
had  led  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  to  their  late  important  but  unex- 
pected decision,  he  said  :  "  The  Chamber  of  Deputies  and  myself  in 
the  present  crisis  are  Siamese  twins  ;  we  know  that,  if  we  are  sep- 
arated, both  must  die."  At  dinner,  he  proposed  the  health  of  Mr. 
Seward,  in  a  pretty  speech,  in  which  he  declared  that  he  regarded 
it  as  a  presage  of  his  success  that  Mr.  Seward  should  be  his  guest 
on  the  first  day  of  his  presidency  of  the  French  Pepublic. 


700  EUKOPE. 

Mr.  Seward  replied  that,  tliougli  France  had  before  attempted 
the  republican  experiment,  he  regarded  the  present  as  the  first  real 
establishment  of  that  system  of  government  in  France.  He  re- 
minded M.  Thiers  that  his  fortune  was  peculiar  as  it  was  felicitous ; 
that  he  was  chosen  president  not  at  the  command,  nor  under  the 
influence  of  a  standing  army,  but  only  as  a  civilian  and  statesman. 
He  hoped  that  M.  Thiers  might  remain  president  as  long  as  Wash- 
ington, and  have  a  line  of  successors  as  long  and  as  virtuous.  More 
than  this  no  statesman  ought  to  expect,  or  might  dare  to  desire. 

The  president  spoke  of  the  difficulties  of  the  position,  and  of  the 
obstinate  distraction  of  opinion  in  France,  so  unlike  any  thing  that 
is  known  in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Seward  said  in  reply  :  "My  hopes  for  France  in  the  present 
crisis  are  founded  on  two  very  antagonistic  grounds.  First,  that 
the  people  of  France  are  universally  discouraged.  I  have  not  heard 
one  hopeful  expression  from  any  man,  of  any  party,  in  Yersailles 
or  Paris,  except  yourself.  Second,  you  are  sanguine  enough  to  in- 
spire the  public  with  confidence.  It  is  fortunate  that  all  parties 
excepting  the  republicans  have  exhausted  the  public  confidence. 
The  imperialists,  having  lost  the  battle-field,  on  which  the  integrity 
of  France  is  at  stake,  have  forfeited  the  right  to  guide  public  opin- 
ion. The  two  royalist  parties  have  not  regained  the  vitality  lost 
years  ago.  The  republican  party,  although  it  smarts  now,  as  it  has 
done  on  so  many  previous  occasions,  unjustly,  under  the  reponsi- 
bility  of  the  fraternization  with  it  of  the  worst  and  lowest  political 
elements  of  Europe,  still  has  command  of  the  field.  France  will 
now,  I  think,  accept  the  republic,  not  because  she  is  yet  prepared 
to  love  or  trust  it,  but  because  she  has  sufficiently  tried  and  proved 
the  impracticability  of  the  kingdom  and  the  empire." 

Madame  Thiers  and  her  sister  are  highly-accomplished  ladies, 
with  more  vivacity  than,  and  quite  as  practical  and  energetic  as  the 
most  practical  of,  our  countrywomen. 

After  dinner,  there  was  a  general  and  distinguished  reception 
of  visitors,  who  had  come  to  congratulate  the  president.  Among 
these  were  the  papal  nuncio,  the  Prince  de  Chigi  Albani,  Lord 
Lyons,  Prince  Metternich,  Mr.  Washburne,  cardinals,  archbishops, 


INTERVIEW   WITH  M.   DROUYN   DE   LIIUYS.  701 

bishops,  generals,  admirals,  deputies  from  all  sides  of  the  Chamber, 
and  many  ladies. 

It  was  suggestive  of  thought  to  see  this  plain  civilian,  this  in- 
dependent statesman,  who  virtually  had  been  proscribed  by  all 
parties  for  thirty  years,  now,  at  the  united  command  of  the  French 
nation,  called  to  its  head  to  redeem  it  from  the  dangers  and  dis- 
asters into  which  it  had  fallen  by  rejecting  his  wise,  disinterested, 
and  patriotic  advice. 

Septemhei'  Uh. — It  is  a  consequence  of  the  extraordinary  condi- 
tion of  France  at  the  present  moment  that  society  of  all  kinds  is 
broken  up  at  Parjs.  The  timid  and  prudent  citizens,  not  yet  as- 
sured of  peace,  have  not  returned  to  the  city.  The  imperial  court 
is  dispersed,  the  Communists  are  suppressed,  and  the  dominant 
party  is  with  the  government  at  Versailles.  At  the  same  time 
nothing  is  considered  permament  there.  It  is  only  a  provisional 
government  at  best,  and  the  Chamber  is  already  distracted  by  the 
question  of  the  removal  of  the  government  to  Paris.  This  condi- 
tion, however,  is  perhaps  not  unfavorable  to  a  study  of  the  political 
tendencies  of  the  times.  We,  of  course,  meet  persons  of  all  par- 
ties. It  has  been  a  pleasure  to  again  see  M.  Henri  Mercier,  former 
French  minister  at  Washington,  and  his  successor,  the  Marquis  de 
Montholon,  always  cordial  and  friendly  in  his  good  Welshes  for  the 
United  States.  It  is  a  source  of  much  regret  that  we  do  not  meet 
Signor  Bertinatti,  formerly  Italian  minister  at  Washington,  always 
so  true,  earnest,  and  sympathetic.  He  is  now  Italian  minister  at  the 
Hague,  and  writes  that  he  has  been  making  preparations  to  receive 
us  there.  But  the  time  intervening  before  our  embarkation  for 
home  is  so  short  that  we  shall  be  unable  to  visit  Holland.  An  in- 
terview of  especial  interest  was  that  with  M.  Drouyn  de  Lhuys, 
who  was  the  successor  of  M.  Thouvenel  as  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs  at  Paris  during  our  civil  war,  but  was  replaced  later  by  M. 
Lavallette.  M.  Drouyn  de  Lhuys  is  a  gentlemen  of  fortune,  now 
residing  at  Paris,  unemployed,  and  the  newspapers  are  disputing 
the  probabilities  of  his  being  called  to  office  by  President  Thiers. 
He  is  a  tall,  stout  man,  not  much,  if  at  all,  beyond  sixty,  with  a  mas- 


702 


EUROPE. 


sive  head,  an  open  countenance,  a  very  kindly  as  well  as  intellectual 
expression,  and  manners  at  once  courtly,  frank,  and  simple.  He 
speaks  English  quite  well.  The  conversation  ranged  on  topics  far 
and  wide,  its  chief  one  being  the  relations  between  France  and  the 
United  States  past  and  present.  M.  Drouyn  de  Lhuys,  though  in 
the  ministry  during  the  period  when  he  had  to  treat  with  the  ques- 
tions growing  out  of  the  French  expedition  to  Mexico,  was  not 


DEOrTN   DE   LHUYS. 


engaged  in  the  inception  of  that  enterprise,  and,  indeed,  had  always 
been  opposed  to  it.  He  is  the  only  statesman,  excepting  President 
Thiers,  whom  we  have  met  here  that  seems  hopeful  of  France.  He 
says  the  worst  part  of  the  road  is  passed.  France  must  give  up  her 
dream  of  national  aggrandizement  and  military  glory,  which  are 
the  sources  of  all  her  misfortunes.  He  thinks  that  she  will  do  so, 
and  will  rise  to  a  higher  position  than  ever. 


DR.   EVANS.  703 

It  has  been  an  especial  pleasure  to  make  the  personal  acquaint- 
ance of  M.  LaboTilaye,  who  is  now  a  prominent  republican  member 
of  the  National  Assembly.  He  was  a  warm  well-wisher  of  the 
United  States  during  our  war,  and  his  "  Paris  in  America  "  has 
been  read  with  interest  throughout  the  United  States.  He  seems 
depressed  about  the  present  state  of  France. 

Acknowledging  the  cheering  encouragement  which  M.  Labou- 
laye  had  given  us  in  our  civil  conflict,  we  thought  it  our  turn  to  in- 
spire him  with  courage  about  the  situation  of  France.  The  cases 
are  not  entirely  different.  In  the  United  States,  we  wanted  to 
abolish  slavery,  and  to  save  the  Union.  Either  motive  was  enough 
of  itself  to  make  a  party,  but  it  was  difficult  to  create  a  party  that 
would  accept  both  as  practicable.  It  is  just  so  now  in  France. 
The  French  want  a  republic,  and  wish  to  preserve  the  integrity  and 
prestige  of  France,  but  are  unable  to  see  how  both  can  be  done  by 
the  same  party  at  the  same  time.  One  may  be  assured,  however, 
that,  each  being  right  and  just  in  itself,  both  objects  will  be  se- 
cured, and  the  time  has  come  when  they  must  be  secured  to- 
gether. 

Septewher  ^th. — One  of  the  effects  of  the  acquisition  of  absolute 
power  seems  to  be  an  isolation,  which  can  only  be  relieved  by  the 
adoption  of  unofficial,  perhaps  obscure  persons,  as  friends,  who  by 
merit  or  address  become  favorites — a  relation  which,  although  it  is 
sometimes  a  useful,  is  often  an  unpopular  one.  Dr.  Evans,  an 
American  dentist,  was  early  accepted  in  that  character  by  Napoleon 
soon  after  the  couj)  cfStat.  Through  his  long  professional  service 
he  received  frequent  and  valuable  tokens  of  the  emperor's  regard. 
If  it  had  been  doubted  whether  he  did  not  exaggerate  the  measure 
of  imperial  favor  he  enjoyed,  those  doubts  were  entirely  removed 
during  our  civil  war,  when,  on  two  occasions.  Dr.  Evans  came  to 
the  Department  of  State  at  Washington,  with  confidential  messages 
and  inquiries  from  the  Emperor  of  France.  While  these  messages 
were  received,  they  were,  of  course,  fully  made  known  to  the  presi- 
dent, and  responded  to  by  his  authority.  At  the  same  time,  the 
execution  of  the  trust  by  the  doctor  was  in  all  respects  moderate 


704  EUKOPE. 

and  becoming.  It  is  due  also  to  the  emperor  to  say  that  all  his 
personal  messages,  of  that  kind  received,  were  frank,  and  no  expec- 
tation raised  by  them  was  ever  disappointed.  Under  these  circum- 
stances, our  visit  to  Paris  afforded  a  pleasant  renewal  of  acquaint- 
ance with  Dr.  Evans,  and  it  was  a  satisfaction  to  find  that,  in  the 
disasters  which  overtook  the  imperial  family,  there  was  no  loss  of 
fidelity  on  the  one  side  nor  of  confidence  on  the  other.  It  was  in- 
teresting to  hear  Dr.  Evans's  account  of  the  empress's  escape  from 
France,  a  transaction  in  which  he  took  an  important  part. 

After  the  battle  of  Sedan  left  Napoleon  III.  a  prisoner  of  war, 
and  the  empire  prostrate,  the  imperial  ministers  and  members  of 
the  Corps  Legislatif  rushed  at  once  to  the  empress  regent,  at  the 
Tuileries,  and  told  her  that  she  must  fly,  without  an  instant's  de- 
lay. At  seven  in  the  evening,  attended  by  one  lady,  she  left  the 
palace  by  a  side-door,  where  they  called  a  common  fiacre.  They 
drove  in  this  up  the  Champs  EhjsSes^  a  mile  or  more,  stopped  in 
the  street,  dismissed  the  vehicle,  walked  a  square  or  two,  took  sm- 
other fiacre  and  drove  to  Dr.  Evans's  door,  and  rang  the  bell.  Mrs. 
Evans  was  absent.  The  doctor  was  entertaining  some  friends  at  din- 
ner, entirely  ignorant  of  the  great  political  transactions  of  the  day. 
A  servant  went  to  him  and  whispered  to  him  that  a  lady,  at  the 
door,  said  she  must  see  him,  and  could  not  be  put  oflF.  The  doctor 
returned  answer  that  he  was  at  dinner  and  could  not  leave  the 
table.  The  empress,  not  to  be  repulsed,  walked  through  the  open 
door  into  the  ofilce.  Learning  this,  the  doctor  excused  himself, 
and  went  to  see  who  the  intruder  might  be :  imagine  his  astonish- 
ment and  dismay  at  finding  the  empress,  and  hearing  her  exclaim, 
"  Doctor,  you  must  save  me ! " 

Few  words  of  explanation  were  necessary.  The  Empress  Euge- 
nie, like  Marie  Antoinette,  had  made  good  her  escape  from  the 
Tuileries  alone,  but  with  his  aid  only  could  she  now  escape  from 
Paris,  and  find  an  asylum  in  a  foreign  country.  Leaving  the  em- 
press and  her  attendant  in  a  room  with  closed  doors.  Dr.  Evans,  as 
soon  as  possible,  dismissed  his  friends ;  and,  without  even  informing 
his  servants  of  his  purpose,  went  to  his  stables,  ordered  his  own 
carriage,  and  engaged  a  friend  to  go  with  him.     The  two  ladies 


THE   ESCAPE   OF  THE   EMPRESS.  '^05 

remained  unseen  until  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  the  car- 
riage drove  to  the  door.  The  empress  was  in  the  mourning  which 
the  court  had  worn  since  the  reverses  of  the.  French  arms.  The 
black  crepe  bonnet  might  excite  attention ;  she  laid  it  aside,  and, 
in  its  place,  took  a  simple  round  hat  of  Mrs.  Evans's.  Then,  with 
her  lady  attendant  and  Dr.  Evans,  she  entered  the  carriage :  the 
friend  rode  on  the  box.  The  streets  were  thronged  with  excited 
crowds,  who,  however,  paid  no  attention  to  the  unostentatious 
equipage  of  the  fugitives.  Arrived  at  the  citj  gate,  it  was  found 
in  charge  of  a  republican  guard,  who  demanded  the  names  of  the 
travellers.  The  doctor  gave  his  own  name,  address,  and  profes- 
sion; and,  remarking  that  great  events  were  occurring  in  Paris, 
handed  the  guard  a  morning  paper,  and  drove  on. 

Travelling  all  day,  they  reached  at  night  a  village  where  Mrs. 
Evans  was  staying,  who  supplied  the  empress  with  apparel  more 
suitable  for  a  voyage  across  the  Channel.  Arriving  finally  at  the 
coast,  the  doctor  procured  from  an  Englishman  the  loan  of  his 
yacht,  and  they  embarked  near  Trouville,  a  short  distance  south  of 
Havre,  at  midnight.  After  a  fearful  passage  of  twenty  hours,  in 
a  heavy  sea,  they  finally  efi'ected  their  landing  on  the  hospitable 
British  shore.  Dr.  Evans's  first  duty,  on  arriving  in  England,  was 
to  relieve  the  mother's  anxiety  for  Louis,  the  prince  imperial,  who 
so  soon  after  Saarbriick  was  privately  sent  from  the  scene  of  war 
by  the  emperor.  He  found  his  way  to  the  prince,  in  spite  of  the 
guard,  who  distrusted  the  visitor.  The  prince,  on  seeing  him,  at 
once  exclaimed,  "  Where  is  my  mother  ?  "  The  doctor  could 
scarcely  suppress  his  emotion  when  he  concluded  his  narrative  by 
saying  :  "  I  conducted  the  empress  to  him,  and,  when  I  witnessed 
their  embrace,  and  heard  their  exclamations,  '  Louis ! '  '  Mamma ! ' 
I  felt  that  my  mission,  not  only  for  this  emergency,  but  for  life, 
was  accomplished." 

How  unable  we  are  to  judge  of  the  reality  and  magnitude  of  a 
danger  when  it  has  been  safely  escaped !  Many,  perhaps,  believe 
that  the  empress  might  have  safely  remained  at  the  Tuileries ;  but 
when  we  remember  the  violence  of  the  Communists — the  murder 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Paris,  and  other  atrocities  during  and  after 


706  EUEOPE; 

the  siege  of  the  city — there  is  every  reason  to  be  thankful  that  her 
escape  saved  maddened  Paris  from  a  cruel  and  atrocious  crime. 

September  ^th. — It  remains  for  us  only  to  acknowledge  the  gen- 
erous and  elegant  hospitalities  which  were  extended  to  ns  by  our 
friend  Mr.  Washburne,  United  States  minister,  and  the  United 
States  consul-general  Mr.  Eead,  Mr.  Appleton,  and  many  other 
Americans.  It  is  with  sincere  pride  that  we  learn  that  their  calm 
courage  and  fortitude  during  the  political  crisis  at  the  capital  won 
for  them  universal  esteem  and  confidence. 

Paris,  as  we  leave  it,  wears  a  sad  and  despairing  aspect.  All 
parties  are  humiliated  alike  in  the  overthrow  of  a  military  prestige 
that  they  trace  back  with  pride  to  Louis  XIV.,  and  even  to  Charle- 
magne ;  in  the  payment  of  indemnities  as  great  as  the  most  rapa- 
cious of  French  armies  ever  extorted  from  foreign  states ;  and  in 
the  loss  of  territories  which  were  at  once  a  resource  and  an  in- 
valuable line  of  defence.  Moreover,  no  party  indulges  any  san- 
guine hope  of  a  renewal  of  the  prestige  and  power  that  have  been 
lost.  For  all  this,  however,  we  leave  France  with  stronger  hope 
than  ever  in  its  future.  The  people  of  France  are  generous,  per- 
haps the  most  generous  in  the  world.  If  they  have  been  diverted 
from  the  more  prudent  path  of  national  development  to  pursue  the 
career  of  military  glory,  even  that  is  a  fault  kindred  to  national 
virtue.  For  seventy  years  France  has  been  the  chief  theatre  of  the 
struggles  for  the  establishment  of  the  republic  in  Europe.  If  she 
has  failed  hitherto  to  achieve  it,  two  things  are  to  be  considered  in 
extenuation :  First,  that  only  one  country  in  Europe  has  established 
it — namely,  Switzerland ;  and,  second,  that  Switzerland  is  embar- 
rassed by  none  of  the  grave  difficulties  which  surround  France.  It 
was  the  misfortune  of  France  that  the  Protestant  Keformation 
failed  there,  while  it  succeeded  in  the  northern  parts  of  the  Conti- 
nent and  in  Great  Britain.  It  was  alike  the  misfortune  of  France 
that  she  was  called  to  accept  the  republic  while  a§  yet  the  principle 
of  despotic  power  was  unbroken  and  unshaken  throughout  the 
Continent.  Still  further,  it  was  her  misfortune  that  the  sway  of 
the  republic  has  been  incompatible  with  the  contest  which  she  has 


THE   MISFORTUNES   OF  FRANCE.  707 

necessarily  been  obliged  to  hold  against  a  despotic  combination. 
But  all  these  difficulties  are'passed  at  last.  The  French  nation  no 
longer  excites  the  fears  or  has  motives  for  provoking  the  hostility 
of  other  nations.  Left  at  liberty  to  retrieve  her  national  disasters, 
all  her  energies  will  be  applied  to  that  purpose.  The  promptness 
with  which  her  people  meet  the  financial  exigencies  of  their  trying 
siti?ation  proves  that  her  resources  are  adequate.  On  the  other 
hand,  such  is  the  influence  of  France  everywhere  in  Europe  that 
every  new  step  which  she  makes  in  popular  government  demoralizes 
all  the  nations  who  have  been  her  rivals  and  her  enemies.  Bis- 
marck and  his  imperial  master  have  manifested  the  highest  sagacity 
and  ability  in  humiliating  France  from  her  position  as  the  first 
Continental  power  of  Europe,  and  raising  Germany  to  that  proud 
place.  But  not  only  Bismarck  and  the  Kaiser,  but  also  the  King 
of  Italy,  and  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  and  the  Czar  of  Russia,  and 
even  the  statesmen  of  England,  will  probably  find  it  a  much  more 
difficult  task  to  hold  their  respective  countries  back  from  the  disor- 
ganizing ways  of  republicanism  if  France  shall  persevere  wisely  in 
that  direction.  The  bugbear  of  Europe  to-day  is  communism,  as 
it  is  the  fear  of  France.  Communism  is,  nevertheless,  in  France  a 
manageable  evil.  It  is  the  protest  of  Wie  laborers  of  France,  now 
largely  educated,  against  the  conscription  and  military  service  which 
has  been  a  social  calamity  ever  since  her  great  Revolution.  The 
agitation  of  communism  will  not  cease  either  in  France  or  in  any 
other  European  country  so  long  as  ten  millions  of  the  laboring 
population  of  the  Continent  are  withdrawn  from  productive  occupa- 
tion to  become  consumers.  On  the  other  hand,  the  ecclesiastical 
institutions  and  prejudices  of  Europe  are  so  much  broken  down 
that  the  republic  has  no  strong  obstacle  anywhere  but  the  standing 
armies.  Let  these,  by  whatever  means,  be  replaced  by  a  voluntary 
and  moderate  militia  force,  and  every  European  state  will  slide  at 
once  into  the  republican  system  as  easily,  as  gracefully,  and  as 
safely,  as  Switzerland  and  the  United  States  have  already. 

63 


CHAPTER  Y. 

GERMANY,  ENGLAND,   AND  HOME. 

Belgium. — Berlin. — Mr.  Bancroft. — Humboldt. — The  German  Empire. — Its  Rise  and 
Grandeur. — Its  Policy. — Hamburg. — A  Free  City. — A  Handsome  City. — On  the 
Thames. — Activity  of  its  Commerce. — Greatness  of  London. — Government  Machinery 
in  Great  Britain. — Its  Slow  Working. — Rural  Beauty  of  England. — On  Board  the 
Java. — Her  Passengers. — Montrose-on-Hudson. — Return  to  Auburn. — Mr.  Seward's 
Speech  to  his  Neighbors. 

Cologne.,  September  Qth. — Out  of  France — across  Belgium — and 
on  the  Eliine,  all  in  twelve  hours  ! 

Belgium  realizes  to  the  traveller  its  well-known  character  for 
density  of  population,  and  active,  inventive  industry.  It  is  wonder- 
ful how  arts,  and  even  freedom,  flourish  within  this  little  state, 
which  for  two  thousand  years  has  almost  continually  been  the  battle- 
ground of  the  ambitious  of  the  great  European  nations.  If  we  re- 
member rightly,  there  are  few  Belgian  immigrants  in  America.  As 
we  passed  through  to  Liege  and  its  rural  districts,  so  full  of  busy 
activity,  contentment,  and  even  gayety,  we  wondered  that  there 
should  be  any. 

Berlin,  Septemher  ^th. — We  arrived  here  last  evening.  We 
have  seen  of  Germany  enough  to  show  that  its  climate  is  neither  so 
genial,  nor  its  soil  so  fertile,  nor  its  resources  of  forest  and  mines 
so  rich  as  those  of  Southern  Alaska;  nevertheless,  it  is  rich  and 
prosperous  through  the  perseverance  of  its  people. 

It  is  a  political  and  social  vacation  at  Berlin.  The  emperor- 
king  and  the  empress,  the  princes  and  Bismarck,  are  absent.    Baron 


ASPECT  OF  BERLIN".  t09 

Gerolt,  so  long  the  respected  and  beloved  Prussian  and  German 
minister  at  Washington,  is  now  at  Berlin,  and  it  is  a  pleasure  to 
meet  him  here. 

Mr.  Bancroft  met  us  at  the  station,  and  has  given  us  a  delight- 
ful and  quiet  home  at  the  legation,  on  the  favorite  avenue,  "  Unter 
den  Linden."  He  enjoys  the  respect  and  consideration  here  which 
he  so  eminently  deserves.  Mr.  Bancroft  is  a  distinguished  excep- 
tion to  the  rule  that  great  scholars  fail  of  being  practical  statesmen. 

As  might  be  expected,  the  air  of  Berlin  is  as  triumphant  as  that 
of  Paris  is  sad  and  despondent.  We  noticed  in  Paris  that  the  alle- 
gorical statue  of  Strasbourg,  in  the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  was  cov- 
ered with  mourning:  weeds.  So  we  must  not  omit  to  mention  that 
an  allegorical  group  has  been  erected  here,  representing  Germany 
receiving  with  open  arms  her  returning  daughters,  Alsace  and  Lor- 
raine. 

The  streets  of  Berlin  wear  the  aspect  of  a  newly-built  or  modern 
city.  While  it  has  none  as  fine  as  Fifth  Avenue,  there  is  a  uniform 
solidity  and  elegance  which  we  have  not  yet  attained  in  the  United 
States.  In  activity,  industry,  and  trade,  Berlin  contrasts  strongly 
with  Paris  in  its  present  condition,  as  well  as  with  Naj^les  and 
Florence.  The  parks  are  well  shaded  and  extensive,  but  less  im- 
posing than  those  of  Vienna,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  decide  be- 
tween the  two  cities  in  regard  to  the  general  appearance  of  activity 
and  vivacity. 

In  one  of  the  streets  of  Mexico  there  is  this  inscription  on  a 
marble  tablet :  "  In  this  house  Humboldt  dwelt."  We  are  told  of  a 
similar  inscription  on  the  house  he  lived  in  here.  We  have  scarcely 
accustomed  ourselves  to  think  of  society  in  Berlin  without  the  ele- 
vating and  genial  presence  of  the  greatest  philosopher  of  our  age. 

We  have  had  the  honor  of  meeting  M.  Thile,  the  acting  Min- 
ister of  Foreign  Affairs,  Dr.  Panke,  the  venerable  historian,  and 
several  of  the  celebrated  savants  for  whom  Berlin  is  so  justly  dis- 
tinguished. 

In  the  history  of  civilization  there  has  been  nothing  more  won- 
derful than  the  development  of  the  German  Empire.  Brandenburg, 
the  feeblest  of  perhaps  forty  inconsiderable  states,  a  state  without 


710  EUROPE. 

numbers,  military  force,  arts,  or  science,  two  hundred  years  ago  had 
the  courage  to  challenge  a  place  among  the  countries  of  Europe.  By 
the  adoption  of  a  military  system,  at  that  time  essential  to  every 
power,  but  more  rigorous  than  any  other,  ancient  or  modern,  by  the 
skilful  development  of  resources,  and  by  the  practice  of  parsimony 
so  great  as  to  provoke  ridicule,  by  constancy  in  resisting  aggression, 
and  boldness  in  taking  advantage  of  opportunity,  this  little  king- 
dom of  Brandenburg,  in  the  forty-six  years  of  the  reign  of  Frederick 
the  Great,  doubled  its  territory  and  population,  and  rose  to  the 
attitude  of  one  of  the  great  Continental  powers.  Harassed,  sub- 
jugated, and  ravaged  in  the  Napoleonic  wars,  Prussia  only  applied 
herself  all  the  more  devotedly  and  energetically  to  the  increase  of 
her  strength  and  resources.  With  a  sagacity  which  has  had  no 
prototype,  she  originated  a  new  philosophy,  an  original  literature, 
and  schools  of  music  and  criticism.  With  this  intellectual  progress 
Prussia  has  had  the  wisdom  to  combine  moral  and  social  culture, 
equality  of  rights,  personal  freedom,  and  rigid  justice  of  administra- 
tion, which  have  won  for  her  the  grateful  sympathy  and  affection 
of  other  German  states.  At  least  since  the  time  of  Frederick, 
Prussia  has  practised  an  eminently  wise  and  just  moderation. 
Content  with  an  attitude  always  of  self-defence,  and  to  wait  for 
provocation,  she  reserved  her  strength,  until  the  intolerable  preten- 
sions of  Austria  required  a  contest  with  that  power,  which  resulted 
in  her  bringing  under  her  protecting  flag,  with  their  consent,  the 
I^orth-German  states  around  her,  while  she  neutralized  the  South- 
German  states,  formerly  dependencies  of  her  rival.  Nothing  in 
politics  is  more  calmly  sublime  than  the  deportment  of  Prussia 
when  that  recent  great  aggrandizement  excited  the  jealous  alarm 
of  France.  France  secretly  proposed  to  favor  the  extension  of 
North-German  jurisdiction  over  the  South-German  states  on  condi- 
tion that  Prussia  would  consent  that  France  should  absorb  Bel- 
gium. Prussia  refused.  France  then  sought  offence  in  the  offer  of 
the  Spanish  Cortes  of  the  throne  of  that  country  to  a  prince  of  the 
house  of  Ilohenzollern.  The  Prussian  Government  disavowed,  and, 
when  that  failed,  the  prince  declined,  but  the  empire  of  France 
would  have  an  insult  when  the  original   cause  of  complaint  had 


PRUSSIA  AND   THE   UNITED   STATES.  711 

been  removed.  So  the  emperor  instructed  liis  minister,  who  of- 
fended the  dignity  of  the  Prussian  sovereign,  and  was  dismissed 
for  it.  Then  France  dechired  war.  Prussia  came  into  a  war,  the 
only  one,  perhaps,  of  modern  times  in  which  the  advantages,  moral 
and  physical,  were  combined  on  the  same  side — a  just  cause,  a  de- 
fensive position,  convenient  preparation,  and  the  strongest  military 
power.  There  is  one  circumstance  in  this  great  event  peculiarly 
gratifying  to  the  United  States,  and  which  cannot  but  prove  useful 
to  the  world.  It  seems  as  if  the  process  of  renaissance  in  any 
nation  begets  a  sympathy  and  friendship  for  the  American  Pepub- 
lic.  We  do  not  know  the  secret  of  the  great  Frederick's  sympathy 
with  the  United  States,  in  their  Pevolution.  He  was  a  capricious 
man,  and  had  a  proclivity  for  French  philosophy  and  politics,  and 
a  dislike  for  England.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  cause,  he 
was  an  admirer  of  our  institutions,  and  in  1786  made  with  us  a 
treaty,  based  on  an  acknowledgment  of  the  highest  rights  of  man. 
Through  all  her  own  vicissitudes  and  ours,  Prussia  has  adhered  to 
the  policy  and  sentiments  of  Frederick,  in  regard  to  the  United 
States.  Prussia  was  the  first  of  the  European  powers  to  join  us  in 
a  policy  of  justice  and  liberality  toward  Mexico.  Prussia  was  the 
first  of  the  European  states  to  acknowledge  the  American  principle 
of  freedom  of  naturalization  and  denationalization.  With  Pussia 
she  has  been  a  faithful  friend,  and,  like  Switzerland,  she  has  en- 
grafted on  her  own  political  system  the  American  principle  of  gov- 
ernment by  confederation  of  states.  It  is  a  proud  thing  to  see  that 
system  established  by  the  most  powerful  of  the  states  on  the  Euro- 
pean Continent.  It  promises  nothing  less,  though  perhaps  in  a 
distant  future,  than  the  abolition  of  military  despotism  for  main- 
taining the  balance  of  power.  Germany,  if  her  magnanimity  shall 
be  equal  to  her  prosperity,  will  be  content  hereafter  to  promote 
the  welfare  of  mankind,  through  the  arts  of  peace,  rather  than  to 
seek  greater  dominion  by  war  and  violence. 

Hamburg,  SepUinber  Vith. — Crossing  the  river  Spree,  passing 
pretty  Charlottenburg,  and  reaching  the  Havel,  we  leave  behind 
us  the  suburban  cultivation  and  taste  of  Berlin,  and  enter  on  a 


712  EUROPE. 

plain  where  sand  and  marsli  intermingle.  Only  Germans  eoiild 
utilize  a  soil  so  worthless,  but  they  use  it  in  every  way.  For  cen- 
turies the  writing- world  has  relied  upon  these  plains  for  their 
goose-quills.  Of  national  frontiers,  there  have  been  more  than 
enough  on  this  plain.  These  boundaries  have  now  become  merely 
departmental  divisions  of  the  German  Empire.  We  came  to  the 
Elbe  at  Wittenberg,  and  followed  its  banks  to  Hamburg. 

You  realize,  on  the  moment  of  arrival  at  Hamburg,  that  you 
are  in  a  free  city.  No  demand  of  passports,  and  no  custom-house 
inspection  of  luggage,  no  espionage,  no  intrusive  curiosity.  Ham- 
burg is  not  so  majestic  as  Yienna,  so  poetic  as  Yenice,  so  classic  as 
Florence,  nor  so  elegant  as  Paris,  and  yet  it  is  a  rich  and  beautiful 
city,  pleasant  to  look  upon.  With  exquisite  art,  they  have  gath- 
ered the  rapid  little  Alster,  no  larger  than  the  east  branch  of  the 
Potomac  at  Bladensburg,  into  pretty  crystal  lakes,  lending  a  Yene- 
etian  charm  to  the  beautiful  palaces  and  villas  of  the  merchant- 
princes  which  crown  the  shores.  And  Hamburg  has  one  beauty 
which  even  Yenice  has  not — the  beauty  of  broad  and  ornamented 
lawns  and  gardens.  But  the  Germans  arc  a  practical  people,  and 
the  beauty  of  Hamburg  is  its  smallest  boast.  A  commercial  city, 
the  oldest  of  Northern  Europe,  it  is  the  only  one  that  has  never 
known  a  decline  of  prestige.  The  early  commerce  of  the  Elbe 
was  lost,  like  that  of  the  Mediterranean  ports,  as  a  consequence  of 
the  discoveries  of  Columbus  and  Yasco  de  Gama.  But  it  has  been 
effectually  replaced  by  a  richer  and  more  comprehensive  one.  The 
flags  of  all  nations  are  here,  and  vessels  from  all  ports  crowd  the 
channel.  Hamburg's  most  profitable  commerce  is  that  which  is  at 
the  same  time  most  beneficial  to  the  United  States.  It  is  the  chief 
port  of  emigration.  Our  glimpses  of  Germany,  though  they  have 
been  hasty,  have  modified  our  opinion  on  the  character  of  this  emi- 
gration. The  German  emigrants  go,  not  so  much  to  escape  from 
want,  as  from  a  spirit  of  emulation  and  improvement. 

Here,  under  the  apprehension  of  inclement  weather  on  land, 
and  winter-storms  at  sea,  we  reluctantly  relinquish  our  projected 
journey  through  Denmark  and  Sweden  to  Russia.  Our  explora- 
tion of  four  continents  ends  to-day.     We  embark  on  the  steamer 


0 

D 
W 

< 

X 


ON  THE  TILiMES.  713 

Berlin.  Her  cabins  are  filled  with  merchants  and  their  families 
who  two  days  hence  will  be  un distinguishable  in  the  streets  of 
London,  and  her  decks  are  crowded  with  sheep  which  will  be 
served  up  to  them  as  real  "  Southdown  mutton." 

On  the  Thames^  Septemher  \MJi. — The  broad  estuary  contracts 
so  rapidly  as  to  bring  into  view  the  coast  outline.  Before  reach- 
ing Gravesend,  the  activity  of  the  shipping  impresses  you  with  the 
conviction  that  you  are  approaching  the  greatest  commercial  mart 
of  the  world.  Steamers,  pouring  out  clouds  of  black  smoke,  are 
crossing  in  what  seems  a  maze.  Sailing-vessels,  with  a  fair  wind, 
are  passing  upward,  and  vessels  with  sails  furled  are  towed  by  tugs 
down  the  river.  The  undulating  shores  appear,  on  which  trees, 
orchards,  gardens,  and  lawns,  relieve  the  brown  of  autumn.  On 
our  left  is  the  entrance  of  the  Medway,  on  our  right  the  harbors 
of  Lea  and  Thames  Haven.  Steam  seems  to  be  a  despot  on  land 
as  well  as  on  the  water.  Stationary  engines  at  docks,  wharves, 
manufactories,  locomotive-engines  hurrying  to  and  from  London, 
meet  your  eyes  everywhere.  We  passed  the  Great  Eastern,  at  an- 
chor, in  dignified  retirement.  At  the  beginning  of  our  war  it  was 
suggested  to  buy  this  noble  vessel.  It  was  a  conclusive  objection 
that,  although  she  could  carry  ten  thousand  troops,  she  could  not 
reach  a  landing-place  in  the  insurgent  States.  Equally  impracti- 
cable for  commerce,  she  proved  her  adaptation  to  only  one  of  the 
enterprises  of  the  day,  but  that  perhaps  the  noblest  of  them  all — 
the  laying  of  ocean  telegraphic  cables. 

Entering  the  great  marine  gate-way  of  England,  every  thing 
seems  in  strong  and  cheerful  contrast  to  the  countries  where  we 
have  been.  No  Indian  wigwam,  no  heathen  temple,  no  mosque, 
no  Catholic,  or  Greek  cathedral,  no  fortification,  no  grotesque  cos- 
tumes, no  half-clad  or  naked  savages,  Arabs,  serfs,  fellahs,  or  coolies 
— only  on  shore  a  universal  manufacture,  and  on  the  water  merchant- 
vessels,  bearing  the  world's  exchanges,  and  ships-of-war  to  defend 
and  protect  them — no  despotic  nor  imperial  nor  feudal  power — the 
law  supreme  and  equal — London  shows,  at  the  first  glance,  that  it 
is  the  great  heart  of  human  activity.    Every  enterprise  of  war  or 


714  EUROPE. 

peace,  every  campaign,  canal,  and  railroad,  on  eitlicr  continent  of 
this  great  globe,  derives  from  London  the  credit  which  is  its  life. 

The  river  contracts.  Gravesend,  Woolwich,  "White  Bait  Tav- 
ern, the  Dreadnaught,  Nelson's  flag  ship  at  Trafalgar,  _  all  crowd 
fast  upon  us. 

And  now  we  give  up  our  keys  to  the  polite  custom-house 
officer,  who  is  content  with  the  pretence  of  search.  And  now  we 
leave  the  steamer,  and  study,  as  we  drive  on,  the  scenes  of  low  Lon- 
don hfe,  not  the  illustrations  of  Cruikshanh,  but  the  actual  charac- 
ters portrayed  by  "  Boz."  Here  is  Captain  Cuttle,  and  there  is  the 
little  wooden  midshipman  at  the  door  of  Solomon  Gill's  shop.  Here 
is  Quilp's  figure-head,  and  here  is  Susan  IS'ipper,  and  even  little 
Kell.  We  go  on  through  the  city,  we  turn  up  Bishopsgate  Street, 
and  pass  the  Tower  and  St.  Paul's,  and  so  on  through  crowded 
Cheapside,  Charing  Cross,  and  Covent  Garden,  and  St.  James's, 
until  we  stop  at  last  at  Fenton's  Hotel,  Who  could  have  expected 
to  see  all  Loudon  before  reaching  his  lodgings  ? 

London^  Septemher  15th. — As  for  writing  observations  upon 
London  and  England  so  familiarly  known  by  tradition,  history, 
poetry,  romance,  and  the  drama,  to  say  nothing  of  travellers'  books 
— as  for  doing  this  in  the  short  s]3ace  of  seven  days,  we  are  not 
going  to  try. 

Mr.  Seward  spent  the  morning  in  Downing  Street  with  Mr. 
Hammond,  the  experienced  Under  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  and  the  no  less  accomplished  Mr.  Merivale,  Under  Secretary 
for  India.  With  the  former  he  discussed  the  policy  of  the  Western 
nations  in  regard  to  China,  and  seemed  to  please  the  latter  by  the 
testimony  he  bore  to  the  prudent,  wise,  and  beneficent  administra- 
tion of  Earl  Mayo,  Lord  ISTapier,  and  Sir  William  Muir. 

The  various  bureaux  seem  to  show  that  the  machinery  of  ad- 
ministration in  Great  Britain  has  been  contrived  to  secure  caution 
and  deliberation  at  the  expense  of  time;  while  in  the  United  States 
the  more  simple  constitution  of  the  departments  gives  greater 
promptness  and  dispatch,  at  the  risk,  perhaps,  of  precipitancy.  We 
no  longer  wonder  at  the  blunder  of  the  British  Government  in  fail- 


ENGLISH  RUEAL  LIFE.  '  715 

ing  to  stop  the  Alabama,  when  we  see  that  no  secretary  could 
move  in  that  question  until  he  had  the  studied  opinion  of  the  "  law 
advisers  of  the  crown."  The  Government  of  the  United  States  has 
only  one  legal  adviser,  the  Attorney-General,  who  sits  in  the  Cab- 
inet, and  advises,  like  other  heads,  of  departments,  without  having 
questions  specially  referred  to  him,  except  on  extraordinary  occa- 
sions. 

The  Council  for  India,  the  Council  for  the  Colonies,  the  Board 
of  Trade,  and  the  other  administrative  councils,  are  each  of  them 
a  numerous  body,  and  examine  and  pronounce  upon  every  ques- 
tion, before  the  presiding  minister  takes  action.  In  this  complex 
machinery  the  British  Government  does  not  differ  from  all  the 
other  governments  of  Europe.  Hence  the  tedious  and  vexatious 
delays  which  have  brought  diplomacy  imder  popular  suspicion  and 
reproach. 

It  is  only  in  parts  of  France,  and  in  England,  and  the  United 
States,  that  rural  life  has  an  aspect  of  contentment  and  happiness. 
While  the  dwellings  of  the  rich  landholders  here  immeasurably  sur- 
pass, in  magnificence  as  well  as  numbers,  the  most  ambitious  rural 
residences  in  the  United  States,  the  villages  and  cottages  of  the 
peasantry,  on  the  other  hand,  hold  no  comparison  with  the  cheerful 
rural  towns  and  comfortable  dwellings  of  the  American  farmers. 
But  the  minute  subdivision  and  high  cultivation  of  the  fields,  to- 
gether with  the  general  elegance  of  plantations  and  gardens,  give 
to  the  landscape  of  England  an  air  of  repose,  comfort,  health,  and 
beauty,  which,  as  yet,  has  not  been  approached  among  us.  To  these 
attractions  the  historical  associations,  as  well  as  those  of  poetry  and 
romance,  imj)art  an  additional  charm. 

We  think  the  impression  that  London  makes  upon  an  Amer- 
ican, who  sees  more  of  political,  commercial,  and  social  activity 
and  energy  at  home,  is  one  of  dulness  and  monotony,  leading 
him  to  wish  to  escape  from  it  as  soon  as  possible.  On  the  con- 
trary, when  he  comes  to  the  rural  scenes  of  England,  he  wishes 
that  he  might  remain  there  always.  Such,  at  least,  were  the  pass- 
ing sentiments  awakened  in  us  by  our  short  excursion  from  Wind- 
sor through  Eton  to  Stoke  Poges.      There  is   a  softness  of  the 


Y16  EUKOPE. 

atmosphere  which  seems  not  only  to  harmonize  but  to  blend  with 
the  dark-green  shade  of  the  gardens  and  lawns,  and 

"All  the  air  a  solemn  stillness  holds." 

We  close  our  visit  in  London  with  a  deep  conviction  that  Eng- 
lish and  American  society  are  approximating  to  each  other — that  in 
the  United  States  we  are  assuming  more  of  the  constancy  and  con- 
sistency of  the  English  habit ;  while  in  England  there  is  a  manifest 
tendency  to  adopt  the  active  and  vivacious  ways  of  American  life. 
There  are  sufficient  grounds  to  explain  the  jealousies  which,  rising 
into  antipathies,  have  until  just  now  alienated  the  two  nations.  It 
was  unwise  to  expect  that  the  British  nation  would  forgive  the 
Revolutionary  separation,  and  would  honor  her  new  and  rival  kin- 
dred state,  so  long  as  the  stability  and  perpetuity  of  the  Federal 
Union  were  deemed  experimental.  They  were  necessarily  deemed 
experimental,  all  over  the  world  as  well  as  in  the  United  States,  so 
long  as  the  institution  of  slavery  threatened  dissolution.  So  far 
from  its  having  been  a  matter  of  just  surprise  that  the  Southern 
cause  received  so  much  of  sympathy  and  encouragement  in  the 
aristocratic  circles  of  England,  it  is  rather  to  be  wondered  at  that  it 
received  no  more,  since  it  promised  nothing  less  than  our  inferiority, 
not  only  in  present  prestige  but  in  destiny,  to  the  empire  from 
which  we  had  so  boldly  separated.  Since  slavery  has  ceased  to  ex- 
ist throughout  the  United  States,  there  can  be  no  new  cause  of 
alienation.  The  two  nations  must  be  rivals,  not  in  arms,  for  neither 
has  need  for  conquest ;  but  in  science,  arts,  literature,  agriculture, 
commerce,  and  navigation,  and  in  the  invention  which  leads  to  suc- 
cess in  all  things.  Rivalry  of  this  sort  is  magnanimous  rather  than 
inimical.  Moreover,  each  nation  is  inclined,  by  peculiar  character 
and  habits,  to  enterprise  and  exertion,  in  different  fields  from  those 
of  the  other. 

On  hoard  the  Steamer  Java,  Qiieenstown,  September  24^A. — We 
are  taking  our  last  look  on  foreign  lands,  exactly  a  year  from  the 
day  when  we  had  our  first  glimpse  of  them  as  we  approached  the 
coast  of  mountain-crowned  Japan.     How  suggestive  is  barbarous 


STEAMER  PASSEITGERS.  717 

Japan,  rising  buoyantly  to  grasp  civilization,  while  Ireland,  a  civil- 
ized land,  endures  the  agony  of  a  broken  heart !  But  Ireland  is 
beautiful  in  her  sadness,  and  the  sympathies  of  mankind  assure  her 
of  a  future. 

Here,  on  the  Java,  we  have  an  equal  number  of  Americans 
going  home  after  short  visits  of  business  or  pleasure  in  Europe. 
All  classes  are  represented — merchants,  bankers,  lawyers,  doctors, 
engineers,  professors,  clergymen,  college-students,  students  of  mu- 
sic and  the  fine  arts — more  inquisitive,  more  active,  more  commu- 
nicative, and  less  economical  in  dress  and  habits  than  the  English. 
They  are  social  and  polite  ;  they  talk  incessantly,  and  mostly  of 
"  business  "  and  American  politics,  of  emigration,  education,  inter- 
oceanic  railroads,  intercontinental  telegraphs,  civilization,  and  prog- 
ress generally.  They  assert  their  opinions  confidently,  and  ask, 
"  Why  not  ? "  The  gentlemen  drink  champagne  as  freely  as  if  it 
were  a  native  beverage,  and  smoke  large  "  Habanas,"  where  Euro- 
peans allow  themselves  a  pipe  or  a  cigarette.  The  ladies,  in  unex- 
ceptionable toilets  and  full  of  vivacity,  sustain  their  share  in  con- 
versation upon  all  topics,  from  the  fashions  and  the  opera  at  Paris  to 
the  glaciers  of  the  Alps,  the  arts  of  Italy,  the  literature  of  Germany, 
and  the  politics  and  religion  of  all  nations,  showing  no  special  re- 
gard for  the  theories  and  opinions  of  their  husbands — indeed,  with- 
out special  inquiry,  one  would  hardly  know  which  ol  the  ladies  are 
married,  and  to  w^liich  of  the  gentlemen.  The  children  are  finished 
little  people,  who  have  been  abroad  to  study  the  European  lan- 
guages, and  have  learned  them  all,  with  a  great  deal  more.  The 
girls  read  French  novels  and  the  latest  English  poems,  and  the  boys 
play  at  cards  and  chess. 

It  is  only  when  we  are  leaving  Europe  that  we  realize  the  im- 
mense increase  of  the  foreign  travel,  intercourse,  and  trade,  of  the 
United  States.  Steamers  plying  between  European  and  American 
ports  are  crossing  the  Atlantic  every  day  in  the  year.  The  Cunard 
line,  only  one  of  many,  employs  twenty  steamers  in  this  great 
trade.  The  stormy  Atlantic  navigation  has  become  so  common 
and  so  certain  as  to  have  lost  all  its  terrors.  It  is  a  sad  reflection 
that  this  great  navigation  is  conducted  chiefly  in  foreign  instead  of 


718  EUROPE. 

American  "bottoms.  But  the  loss  of  our  heretofore  prominent  share 
in  it  is  one  of  the  penalties  of  our  civil  war — a  loss  which  will  be 
all  the  sooner  retrieved  by  the  liquidation  of  the  national  debt  and 
the  restoration  of  the  national  currency.  Meantime,  we  may  be 
content  with  the  employment  of  the  energies  of  our  people  in 
developing  resources  greater  than  any  other  nation  possesses.  One 
of  the  Cunard  proprietors  says  that  the  profits  of  the  line  are  not 
derived  exclusively  or  mainly  from  cabin-passengers,  or  even  from 
freights,  but  from  the  transportation  of  emigrants.  We  discovered 
a  similar  fact  in  regard  to  the  trade  of  the  Pacific.  If  the  annual 
accession  of  three  hundred  thousand  immigrants,  who  generally 
are  of  the  humbler  classes  of  Europe,  has  already  produced  a 
beneficent  modification  of  society  and  government,  then  it  cannot 
be  doubted  that  this  perpetual  and  always  increasing  intercourse 
between  America  and  Europe  must  exert  a  strong  and  healthful  in- 
fluence upon  European  nations.  Doubtless  the  United  States  send 
many  frivolous  and  idle  pleasure-seekers  abroad,  and  at  the  cost  of 
much  wealth,  but  they  send  at  the  same  time  vastly  more  of  enter- 
prising, inventive,  and  thoughtful  inquirers  and  observers;  and 
that  cannot  be  a  losing  intercourse  for  us  which  brings  us  foreign 
labor,  industry,  invention,  and  skill,  in  compensation  for  the  annual 
surplus  of  our  material  productions. 

Montrose-on-Ihidson.,  October  Id. — A  dense  fog  compelled  us 
to  go  to  anchor  just  below  Quarantine  at  three  o'clock  this  morn- 
ing. In  aj)prising  our  friends  of  our  coming,  we  had  request- 
ed that  they  would  meet  us  in  the  harbor  of  New  York.  The 
Java  had  anticipated  the  expected  day  of  arrival  by  twenty  four 
hours,  so  all  things  favored  our  desire  to  avoid  the  fatigue  and 
delay  of  landing  in  the  city.  On  a  signal,  our  friends  met  us  with 
a  steam-yacht  at  our  anchorage.  The  custom-house  inspector 
cleared  our  luggage  promptly  ;  the  Quarantine  officer  made  no 
hesitation  in  giving  us  certificates  of  health ;  the  passengers  of  the 
Java  gave  us  three  cheers  on  our  disembarking. 

We  touched  at  the  Battery,  and  at  Jersey  City,  to  take  on  board 
other  friends  waiting  there,  and  at  two  o'clock  the  Henry  Smith 


EETUEN   HOME.  719 

landed  us  at  Yerplanck's  Point,  near  the  house  of  Frederick  W. 
Seward,  to  the  surprise  of  the  citizens  whose  obscure  port  had  never 
before  witnessed  a  direct  arrival  from  Europe,  since  the  day  when 
Hendrick  Hudson  first  landed  there  from  the  Half  Moon. 

Auburn,  October  ^th. — Commodore  Yanderbilt's  private  car,  the 
finest  and  most  comfortable  conveyance  we  have  found  in  the 
whole  circuit  of  the  globe,  brought  us  over  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad  to  our  destination  here  at  nine  o'clock  this  evening,  ex- 
actly one  year  and  two  months  from  the  day  of  our  departure.  We 
entered  the  station  by  its  eastern  door-way.  A  crowd  of  kind 
friends  and  neighbors  met  us  at  the  station,  and  attended  us  home, 
where,  in  their  behalf,  Mr.  Myers  made  an  appropriate  speech  of 
welcome. 

Mr.  Seward  replied : 

"  The  words  which  you  have  spoken  to  me,  and  the  pressure  of 
the  hand  which  you  have  given  me,  are  what  I  knew  I  might  ex- 
pect, and  yet  what  I  would  willingly  have  avoided.  I  have  taxed 
my  neighbors  and  friends  so  often  and  so  long  that  I  have  begun 
to  feel  that,  when  I  go  away,  I  would  like  to  slip  away  from  them, 
and  to  soften  the  sadness  of  parting  as  the  nearest  of  domestic  rela- 
tions do  when  they  part.  And,  when  I  come  back,  I  like  to  go  in 
upon  them  by  surprise,  and  meet  them  in  their  accustomed  walks 
and  ways,  rather  than  to  trouble  them  to  come  out  to  greet  me. 

"Still  it  is  what  has  always  happened  to  me  in  the  course  of  so 
many  years.  "Whenever  I  have  had  occasion  to  go  out  of  Auburn, 
sometimes  nearer  and  sometimes  farther,  sometimes  upon  errands 
of  duty,  sometimes  of  study,  sometimes  of  labor,  sometimes  of  pub- 
lic responsibility,  and  sometimes  of  private  interest,  I  never  was 
sufifered  to  part  from  my  friends  here  without  demonstrations  of 
their  affection. 

"  It  has  often  been  my  lot  to  come  back  among  you.  Some- 
times from  fields  of  achievement  which  have  excited,  or  misrht  ex- 
cite  envy — sometimes  defeated  and  with  mortification,  sometimes 
with  domestic  sorrow,  which  cannot  be  lightly  spoken  of,  and  some- 
times with  public  anxiety  which  could  not  be  expressed — yet  I 


720  EUROPE. 

have  never  come  home  without  being  received  as  a  neighbor  and 
friend. 

"  Such  neighbors  deserve  all  the  affection  and  all  the  gratitude 
I  can  give  them.  I  can  only  ask  you  to  believe  that,  in  all  my 
wanderings  far  and  near,  there  has  not  been  a  day  or  hour  when  I 
have  not  remembered  them,  and  prayed  God  that  what  I  might  not 
be  able  to  do  for  their  welfare  and  happiness,  might  be  done  through 
other  agencies. 

"  My  friends,  we  are  met  together,  I  trust,  not  to  part  again. 
I  have  had  a  long  journey,  which,  in  its  inception,  seemed  to  many 
to  be  eccentric,  but  I  trust  that  all  my  neighbors  and  friends  are 
now  satisfied  that  it  was  reasonable.  I  found  that,  in  returning 
home  to  the  occupations  which  were  before  me,  I  was  expected  to 
enjoy  rest  from  labors  and  cares  which  were  thought  to  have  been 
oppressive  and  severe.  I  found  that  at  my  age,  and  in  my  condi- 
tion of  health,  *  rest  was  rust ; '  and  nothing  remained,  to  prevent 
rust,  but  to  keep  in  motion.  I  selected  the  way  that  would  do  the 
least  harm,  give  the  least  offence,  enable  me  to  acquire  the  most 
knowledge,  and  increase  the  power,  if  any  remained,  to  do  good. 

"  In  the  course  of  mv  wanderino-s  I  have  seen,  not  all  the  na- 
tions,  but  some  of  the  nations,  of  every  race  on  the  earth.  I  have 
looked  the  whole  human  family  in  the  face,  and  taken  by  the  hand 
and  conversed  with  my  fellow-man  in  his  lowest  degradation  and 
in  his  highest  stage  of  civilization.  I  have  found  no  nation  so  dis- 
tant, and  no  race  so  low,  that  the  character  of  an  American  citizen 
did  not  secure  to  me,  not  merely  safety,  but  also  respect,  considera- 
tion, and  affection.  You  may  judge,  therefore,  whether  in  return- 
ing to  my  o"wn  country  I  have  less  reason  to  love  and  honor  it. 

"  My  friends  and  neighbors,  I  have  trespassed  beyond  your 
patience  and  my  own  strength  in  speaking  these  words  to  you.  I 
give  you  my  sincere  and  heart-felt  thanks,  and  hope  to-morrow,  and 
on  early  future  days,  to  learn  that  happiness  has  been  in  all  your 
dwellings,  and  that  all  the  enterprises  in  which  you  are  engaged 
have  been  crowned  with  success,  as  I  know  there  will  be  at  all 
your  firesides,  during  the  long  winter  before  us,  the  same  affection 
and  friendship  which  have  been  the  great  happiness  of  my  life." 


II^DEX. 


PAGE 

Absalom,  tomb  of. 597 

Abydos 526-530 

A.  C.  Farnham  &  Co 254 

Aden 470,473 

Agra 387 

Akbar,  Emperor 388-395 

Alaska 33 

Alaska,  steamer 226 

Albert,  Prince 361 

Albuquerque 454 

Aleock,  Sir  Rutherford 137 

Alden,  Timothy 409 

Alexander  the  Great 397 

Alexandria 570-574 

Alexandrian  Library 575 

All  Murad  Efifendi 535 

Allahabad 385,437 

Alps,  the 685 

Altai  Mountains 118 

Amenophis  III 544 

Americans  in  Egypt 504,  505 

American  legation  at  Yeddo 53 

officer  in  Turkish  service 646 

officers  In  Egypt 573 

Antonelli,  Cardinal 674,  675 

Apollo,  steamer 605,  606 

Appleton,  Mr 706 

Arcot 338,  339 

Arcot  Mission 344 

Arabia 469 

Arab  kindness  to  animals 524 

Ariadne,  Marryat's  vessel 573 

Argyll,  Duke  of 349 

54 


FAGB 

Armenian  merchant 347 

Asceticism 445 

Aschmann,  Captain 687 

Ashuelot,  U.  S.  steamer 110,  111,  206 

Assouan 555,  556 

Athens 627-632 

Auburn,  departure  from 3 

Auger,  General,  kind  attentions  of. . .  .       9 

Augustine  Heard  &  Co 254 

Aurengzebe 410 

Austria,  remarks  on 666,  668 

Avery,  Mr 27 

Azhar,  Mosque  of 511 

Baboo,  a  Hindoo 354 

Bachelor,  Captain 69 

Bailey,  Mr 232,  255 

Bancroft,  Mr 709 

Bandong 298,  302 

Regent  of 299 

Bannermen,  Chinese 143 

Banco  Begum 398 

Barrackpore . .  368 

Barrow,  General 386 

Batavia 280,  284 

Bayard  Taylor 409,  413 

Beardsley,  Mr.,  U.  S.  consul 579 

Bedouin  Arabs   488 

Beebe,  Mr 206 

Behar,  steamer 316 

Belgium 708 

Bell,  Admiral 79 

Bellianeh ...    526 


722 


INDEX. 


Benares 372-384 

Maharajah  of 375 

Bengal,  Bay  of 351 

Benzoui 680 

Bergh,  Mr 120 

Berlin 708,  709 

Berne 687 

Berthemy,  M 137,  686 

Bertinatti,  Signer 701 

Bethany 599 

Betts  Bey 483,  525,  566,  571 

Bethlehem 594-596 

Bettos,  Japanese  foot-boys 66 

Beust,  Count 665,  666 

Bhan  Daji 448,  449 

Birds,  Calcutta 359 

Birthday,  Mr.  Seward's  seventieth 533 

Black  Hole,  Calcutta '. 364 

Blaeque  Bey 648,  6o3 

Bliss,  Dr 605 

Bogue  Forts 234 

Bom  Jesus,  Chui-ch  of,  at  Goa 455 

Bombay 442-4 

Book-store  at  Yeddo 67 

Bosporus,  the 643-646 

Boston 353 

Botanical  Gardens,  Batavia 311 

Bradley,  General 11 

Bramin  beggar,  a 343 

Bridges,  litigation  about 7 

British  "and  French  in  China 176 

British  hospitality 438 

L  Htan,  Miss 370,  371 

Brov.-n,  John  P 634-636 

Bruce,  Sir  Frederick 133 

Buda-Pesth 658 

Buddha 378 

Temple  of 159 

Buddhist  temple  and  bonzes  in  Japan.     43 

Buddhists  in  China 159 

Buddhism,  Chinese 242,  243 

Buitenzorg 285 

Bull,  Pardon  &  Co 254 

Bulwer,  Sir  Henry 572,  573 

Burne,  Major 352 

Burlingame,  Anson.  97,  131,  133,  138, 

143,  168,  169,  200 

Busteed  &  Co 271 

Butler,  Mr.,  a  colored  American 101 

Byculla  Club 451 

Mr.  Seward's  speech  to 400 


PAGE 

Cairo 492,  567 

old 508 

Calcutta 352,  353 

California,  caprices  of  civilization.  ...     27 

Caliphs,  tombs  of 509 

Calvary 588,  589 

Cambodia 266 

Queen  of 268 

Cambyses 542 

Camoens  at  Goa 458 

Campbell,  Governor,  of  Wyoming 11 

Canada,  remarks  on 5 

Canals  of  Egypt 521 

Canal,  Great  Chinese 117,  224 

Canton 233,252 

fisheries 254 

Gary,  Alice 464 

Cascade  at  Bandong 303 

Caste  in  India 333 

Cataracts  of  the  Nile 560 

Cauverypak 340 

Cavour,  Count 683 

Cawnpore 386 

Cedar    Rapids,    an    inchoate   Western 

city 1 

Cemetery  at  Assouan 557 

Cesnola  collection 615,  616 

Ceylon 320-322 

Cham-Ping-Chow 194 

Chee-Foo 106,  107 

Cherif  Pacha 504 

Cheyenne 9,  10 

Chicago,  a  marvel  of  progress 6 

China,  agriculture  of 119 

its  national  flag 133 

relations  of,  with  Russia 138 

decay  of 153 

materialism  in 153 

deities  of 158 

diplomacy  of 169,  170 

Romanism  in 195 

civilization  in,   Mr.  Seward's  re- 
marks on 258-261 

Chinese  Americans 134 

baby 188 

banquet 144 

boudoir 148 

cabinet 140 

carriages 174 

civilization 258-261 

enaigration 253,  254 


INDEX. 


723 


PAGE 

Chinese  emperor's  summer  palace 176 

funeral 127 

imis 194 

long  nails 149 

returning  home 30 

tablet  hall 157 

Temple  of  Buddha 159 

theatricals 220 

wall 172,  182,  185,  186 

Chin-Kiang 210,  225 

Chin-Lun 203 

Chin-Waugti 189 

Chi-Tajen  and  Sun-Tajen.97,  100,  169, 

197,  198 

Citadel  of  Cairo 505 

Civilization  of  the  Mediterranean,  681,  682 

Clive,  Lord 334,  339 

Coekburn,  Admiral 331,  447,  475 

Cochin  China 262-268 

Coles,  Mr 166 

Coliseum,  the 672,  673 

Cologne 708 

Colorado,  U.  S.  steamer,   95,  102,  208, 

226,  228 

Colored  settlement  at  Chatham 5 

Colossi  of  Thebes 543,  544 

Concert  at  Calcutta 361 

Concessions,  Foreign,  in  China 95 

Confucius. 163,  164 

Temple  of -. , 161 

Constantinople,  arrival  at 633 

charms  of 637-639 

Cook,  Captain 574 

Copts,  the , 508 

Columbia,  steamer 320 

Comprador,  Chinese 227 

Cornwallis,  Lord 334,  335 

Council  Bluffs 7 

Council,  Legislative,  of  Madras 335 

Cunningham,  General 408 

Cyprus 614 

Daibutz,  statue  of  Buddha 47 

Dak,  the 406 

Bailing,  Lord 571 

Dancing-girls,  Javanese 304,  305 

Danube  River 663,  664 

Darwin,  his  theory 440 

Dashur,  Pyramids  of. 565 

Day,  loss  of  a  day 32 

Decima,  island  of. 86 


PAGE 

De  Long,  minister  to  Japan,  38,  49,  62, 

69,  73 

Delmonico  of  Yeddo,  the 63 

Dutch  steamer,  a 274-279 

Dwarfs,  Javanese 300,  305,  306 

Delaplaine,  Mr 665 

Delhi 404-413 

Delos 621 

Delta  of  Egypt 569 

De  Montholon 137 

Dendera,  Temple  of 531-533 

Dervishes,  dancing 511-513 

Detroit 5 

De  Trobriand,  General 15 

Dogs,  Chinese 112 

Doorga,  the  monkey-god 383 

Drew,  Mr 214 

Drouyn  de  Lhuys,  M 701,  702 

Dutch  colonization 297 

Eden,  Calcutta 360 

Echo,  a  marvellous 224 

Edfou 554 

architect  of 554 

Edinburgh,  Duke  of 208,  319 

Egypt,  population  of. 491,  492 

Egyptians,  ancient 576,  577 

Egyptian  kings,  tombs  of. 546 

relics 506,  507 

E.  J.  Sage  &  Co 25# 

El-Aksa '592,  593 

I  Elcho 22,  23 

Eldridge,  Mr 374 

Elephanta 448-450 

Elephantina 555 

Elephants  at  Putteeala 417,  422 

England,  rural  life  in 715 

Englisli  and  American  society 716 

Epaulets,  influence  of 122 

Ephesus 617-621 

Esneh. 55],  553 

Eugenie,  Empress 498,  504 

escape  of.. 703-706 

Evans,  Dr 703-706 

Farnham,  Mr.,  U.  S.  consul,  Bombay. .   442 

Fellahs  of  Egypt 523 

Finkelstein,  Benjamin 579 

Firman,  Sultan's,  to  Mr.  Seward 584 

Fisheries,  Northern  treaty  for 34 

Fitz,  Mr 217-219 


724 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Fitzgerald,  Sir  Seymour 442,  444 

rioreuee 670,  6ll 

Flotilla,  Mr.  Seward's,  on  the  Pei-ho, 

113-115 

Flowery  Forest  Temple,  Canton 241 

Forbes,  Murray 231 

Formosa,  island  of. 230 

Forte,  H  B.  M.  ship 331 

Fort  St.  George 334 

William 370 

France,  condition  of 690-692 

Franco-German  War,  near  approach  of,     31 

Franklin 694 

Fraser,  Mr.  and  Mrs 209 

Freeman,  William.  .9,  70,  71,  125,  130, 

192,  208,  425,  426 

French  affairs 706,  707 

Assembly 695-697 

and  British  in  China 176 

colonization  in  the  East. 266 

inscription  at  Philce 561 

Furs  at  Peking 136 

Fusi  Yama 33,  34 

Futtehpore  Sikra 388,  390 

Gallatin 688 

Galle,  Ceylon 320 

Ganges  River 373 

festival  on 375 

Geneva 685 

Genoa 683 

Geoffrey,  M 697 

Gerolt,  Baron 709 

Ghizeh 517,  566 

Gindy  House 347 

Park,  Madras 346 

Goa,  excursion  to 451-459 

population  of 457 

Gobat,  Bishop 600,  604 

Golden  Island 225 

Goshen,  land  of 489 

Government  House,  Calcutta 358 

Graijit,  President,  at  Chicago 6 

Mr 438 

Great  Britain,  Government  of . . . .  714,  715 

Greece,  modern 632 

Greek  architecture 550,  631 

costume 622 

church 600 

language 632 

Grevy,  M 695  : 


PA65B 

Grey,  Dr 235,  249 

Gyascutus,  the 33 

Hainan  Island 262 

Hamburg 711,  712 

Hamlin,  Dr 641 

Hammond,  Mr 714 

Han  River 216 

Hau-Kow 216 

Han-Yan 217,  219 

Harem  of  the  Khedive 493,  513-515 

of  U.  S.  vice-consul  at  Thebes. . .   563 

Hart,  Robert 196,  197* 

Hastings,  Mr.,  Mr.  Seward's  old  friend,     26 

Hatason,  Queen 541,  548 

Hawes,  Captain.  . '. 113,  206 

Hay,  Mrs 605 

Heber,  Bishop 330 

Helena,  Empress 587,  589 

Heliopolis 503 

Herodotus 502 

H.  Fogg  &  Co 254 

Himalayas,  first  view  of 415 

a  glance  at 431 

Hindoo  girls'  school,  Madras 328,  348 

names 329 

; tenderness  for  animals 440 

Hiogo 76,  77 

Hoang-ho,  mouth  of 104 

Holy  Sepulchre,  Church  of 585-587 

Honan  Temple 240 

Hong-Kong 230-232 

gamblers 255 

Hoogly  River 351 

Horses,  Japanese  care  of 67 

Horsford,  Captain 415,  417,425 

Hue,  Father 217 

Hughes,  Archbishop 677 

Humayobn 406,  409 

HumboJdt 709 

Hungary 658-663 

Hurdwar 415 

Hyden 172 

Idol-worship,  folly  of 566,  567 

India,  secret  of  its  dependence 330 

government 332 

caste ,. 333 

discontent  with  English  rule  ....   357 

finances  of 365 

scenery 373 


INDEX. 


725 


PAGE 

India,  opium 374 

history 405,  406 

Mr.    Seward's    remarks    on   leav- 

in? 465-469 

Indians,  destiny  of 23 

Inland  Sea  of  Japan 83 

Interpreter,  Japanese 57 

Islitabashi,  Mr 69,  73 

Island,  a  floating 277 

Isles  of  Greece,  the 621 

Ismailia 483-487 

Ismail  Pacha,  Khedive  of  Egypt. .  486,  515 
Israelites'  passage  of  the  Red  Sea,  481,  482 
Italy 669-684 

Jacobs,  Mr 352 

Jade,  Chinese 239 

Jaffa 578,  579 

Japan,  coast  of. 33 

population  of 38 

"  concession  "  to  foreigners  in . . .     38 

people  of. 38,  45 

costumes 39 

barbers 39 

gathering  of  crops 43 

laws  about  trees 43 

tea-houses 44 

history  of 52-54 

Foreign  Office 54 

artisans 66 

especial  reasons  for  prudence. ...     75 

Christianity  in 87,  88 

society  and  civilization 88-93 

Japanese   ambassadors  to  the  United 

States,  their  fate 65 

travellers 262 

Java 280-318 

populousness  of 284 

scenery 286 

government 287 

clmiate 288 

vegetation 289 

birds 289 

fruit 291 

agriculture 294 

Dutch  management  of . .  . .     297, 

298,312,  314 

steamer. 716,  717 

Jay,  John 665 

Jehanara,  tomb  of. 410 

Jejeebhoy,  Sir  Jamsetjee 443 


Jerusalem 581-604 

population  of 596 

Jesuits  in  China 140 

Jewell,  Mr 271 

Mr.,  U.  S.  consul  at  Penang 316 

Jew,  an  American 598 

Jews  of  Jerusalem 600-604 

Jews'  wailing-place 601 

Jiddah 479 

Jubbulpoor 438 

Juggernaut,  car  of 343 

Jugglers,  Hindoo 423,  424 

Jumna,  banks  of  the 431 

Musjid,  the 410,  411 

Junk,  Chmese Iu5 

Kali  Ghaut 362 

Kalka 433,  436 

Kamakula,  ancient  capital  of  Japan ...     46 

Kanagawa,  excursion  to 44 

Kang,  Chinese 181 

Kang-Hi,  Chinese  emperor 140 

Karnak 534-538 

columns  at 539 

Kenneh 564 

Khedive  of  Egypt 486,  490-492, 

566-568,  570 

Khedive's  yacht 574 

Kiahta  .• 146 

KiamU  Pacha 637,  648-650 

Kiamil,  Princess 649,  650 

Kincob,  manufacture  of 383 

Kinder,  Captain 82 

King  Cotton 401 

King,  General 11 

Knapp,  Charles 483 

I  Kossuth 662,  663 

j  Kootub  Minar,  the 406,  407 

Kublai-Khan 166 

'  Ku-Kiang 214,  223 

Kung,  Prince 142 

'  letter  from 198 

interview  with 199-203 

Kussowlee 433-435 

Laboulaye,  M 209,  703 

Larnica 615 

Laurens,  Henry 335 

Lebanon 606 

Le-miug-Che,  Taou-tai  of  Han-Kow 226 

Lesseps,  M 484,  485,  487 


726 


IXDEX. 


PAGE 

Levantine  steamer 578 

Lincoln,  Mr 334 

Lion-wlielps 351 

Little  Orphan  Island 213 

Little  Stork  Pagoda 221 

London 714 

Louis  XIV 688 

Louise,  Sister 195 

Low,  ilr.,  127,  130,  132,  137,  138,  141, 

146,  168,  170,  201,  204 

Low,  Mrs 199 

Lowe,  Mr 296 

Loyola,  Ignatius 140,  455 

Lucknow : 386 

Ludlow  Castle 404,  413 

Luke,  tomb  of 618 

Luxor 534,  535-537,  563 

Lydda 580 

Lyons,  Lord 693 


Madras 

surf  at 

Mahmoud  of  Ghuznee. 
Canal 


Major,  Captain 

Malacca,  Straits  of 275, 

Malays 276-278, 

Mamelukes,  weapons  of 

Mandarin  procession,  a 

Mangum,  Mr.  and  Mrs 

Manockjee  Cursetjee 

Marco  Polo 

Mariette  Bey 501,  507, 

Marmora,  Sea  of 

Marryat's  ship  Ariadne 

Marsh,  Mr 

Martin,  Dr 199,  202, 

Mataria 

Mayo,  Countess  of 

Earl 352,  353, 

death  of,  note 

McAlister,  Mr 

McAlpine,  W.  J 

Medeenet  Haboo 545,  550, 

Mediterranean  Hotel 

Meerut 

Memnon 

Temple  of 

Memphis 565, 

Mencs 

Mercier,  Henri,  M 


327 
350 
389 
570 
454 
317 
313 
505 
96 
88 
444 
346 
561 
6?2 
573 
670 
203 
504 
352 
366 
437 
352 
653 
553 
583 
414 
544 
527 
566 
528 
701 


PAGE 

Merivale,  Mr 714 

Middleton,  Mr 114,  192 

Mikado,  the 52-54 

palace  of  the 70 

Mr.  Seward's  audience  with.. .  .   69-74 

Ming  tombs,  China 189 

Miracle  at  Goa 456 

Missionaries,  American 29 

at  Peking 204 

Mogul  Serai 375 

Mohammed  Tauphik 504 

Mongolians,  the 185 

Monkey,  a  tippling 525 

Monkeys,  thieving,  their  malice 441 

Montagu,  Lady  Mary  Wortley,  letters 

of 496 

Montholon,  M 701 

Montrose-on-Hudson 718 

Mormons,  The 16,  17 

Mormon  polygamy 20,  21 

Tabernacle 17 

Mosque  of  Mehemet  Ali 506 

Pearl 389 

Mount  of  Olives,  mosque  on 598 

Muir,  Lady 386 

Sir  William 385 

Mule,  an  excited 438 

Music,  Hindoo 336,  337 

Musician,  a  Japanese 64 

Myer,  Governor-General  of  Java  .   289,  293 
Myt-Rahyneh : 566 

Nagasaki 82,  85,  87 

Names,  historical  and  geographical  ....       7 

Nankmg 211 

Nan-Kow,  China  179 

Pass 180,  183 

Napier,  Captain 327 

Lady 328 

Lord 327,  328 

Naples 681 

Napoleon  1 686 

Nautch-girls 343,  377 

Necker 688 

Nectanebus 555 

Nederlanden,  Koningin  der 274,  275 

Xeilgherry  Mountains 339 

Nerbudda,  a  night-voyage  on  the 439 

New  York,  arrival  at 718 

Western 4 

Niagara  Falls 4 


INDEX. 


727 


Nile,  the 520-568 

cataracts  of. 560 

native  mode  of  crossing 562 

Nippon-bas,  the  famous  bridge 60,  61 

Nomenclature  of  mountain  scenery. . .     13 

Noubar  Pacha 504 

Nourmahal,  the  light  of  the  harem. . .   398 
Nubians 556 

Obelisk  quarry  at  Assouan 558 

Ocean  Banner-Temple,  Canton 240 

Olga,  Queen  of  Greece 632 

Oliphant  &  Co 254 

Omaha,  characters  at V-O 

Omar,  Mosque  of 590-593 

On,  city  of 503 

Opium  in  India 374 

Opium-smoking  in  China 247 

Ord,  Governor  of  Penang 316 

Orsova 6,  58 

Osaka 77,79-82 

Oude,  King  of 366 

Prince  of S66,  367 

Pacha  at  Cairo,  conversation  with..  568,  569 

Pacific  mail  line  steamers 29 

Pacific  Ocean 29 

Page,  Mr.,  U.  S.  consul  at  Port  Said. ..  575 

Pagodas,  Chinese 122 

Palace,  Imperial,  at  Delhi 411,412 

New,  at  Constantinople 646,  647 

Palestine,  impressions  of 607,  614 

-: population  of 611 

invaders  of ,  612 

religions  of 610 

women  of. 611 

regeneration  of 613 

improvement  in 614 

missions  in 614 

telegraphs  and  railroads  in 614 

Palikao,  battle  of 126 

Panch  Mahal,  the 392,  393 

Pariahs 343 

Paris 690 

Parker,  Theodore,  tomb  of 671 

Parkes,  Sir  Harry,  British  minister  to 

Japan 60,  178 

Parsees,  the 444-447 

Parsons,  Major 435 

Passengers  on  steamer  Java 717 

Passports 686 

Patna 373 


Pe-chee-lee,  Gulf  of 104-107,  207 

Pei-ho  River 109,  110 

Peking,  first  sight  of 127 

Mr.  Seward's  eiitrance  into 129 

wall  of. 132 

foreign  population  of. 134,  136 

Legations  at 1 36-1 38 

palace  m 164 

birds  in 165 

Pells,  Mr 281,  283,  287 

Penang,  island  of 317 

Pepin,  King 686 

Peruvian  bark  in  Java 307 

Pesth ;  .  .  .  659-661 

Pharos 574 

Philffi 559-561 

Philippine  Islands 271 

Phoenix,  the  Arabian 503 

Photographer,  a  Chinese 151 

Pigeon-English 206 

Pilate,  palace  of 590,  600 

PiUsbury,  Mr 107 

Pindarrie 432-436 

Plymouth  Rock,  steamer 209,  226 

Poet,  a  Portuguese,  at  Goa 459 

Poets,  Chinese 145 

Point  de  Galle 320 

Politicians  at  Omaha 8 

Polygamy  in  Egypt  and  Utah 496,  497 

Pompey's  Pillar 572,  573 

Pondicherry 323 

Poon-ting-gua's  villa 244,  245 

Pope  Pius  IX 675-679 

Porcelain  Tower,  the 212 

Port  Said 574,  575 

Portuguese  Empire 458 

courtesy 459 

settlement,  Madras 3*5 

Po-Yang,  Lake 213 

Prawiro  da  Kedya 296 

Preachers  on  steamer  China 29 

Prime-minister,  Japanese 71 

Provence,  steamer 262 

Prussia,  historical  sketch  of 709,  710 

Ptolemy  Philopater 554 

Pulpit  Rock 14 

Pumpelly,  Mr 174 

Putteeala 416-430 

Maharajah  of 360,  415,  421-423 

Prince  of 427 

Pyramids,  the 498-502 


728 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Quarries  at  Assouan 558 

Radhe,  Adhepathe 298 

Rahden,  Saleh-,  Javanese  prince 312 

Railway,  East  India 37a,  374 

Madras  and  Arcot 338 

Ralston,  Mr.,  entertainment  by 26 

Rameses 529 

II 541 

sarcophagus  of. 584 

tomb  of 547 

Ramesis  III.,  temple  of 549 

Ramleh. 579,  580 

Randall,  A.  W 4,  84,  102,  209 

Ranepet 339,  340 

Ranke,  Dr 709 

Read,  Mr 706 

Red  Jacket,  anecdote  of. 32 

Red  Sea,  the 479-482 

Rehfues,    Baron,    German   minister  at 

Peking 137 

Remusat,  M 695 

Reno 24 

Rhodah .' 518,  564 

Riberio,  a  Portuguese  poet 459 

Rice  cultivation  in  India 341 

Risley,  Hanson  A 4 

Miss 129,  130 

Robert  College 641,  642 

Rochefort,  Count,  French  minister  at 

Peking 137 

Rocky  Mountains,  uses  of 12 

Rodgers,  Admiral 95,  98,  102, 

106,   107,   113,  140,  145,  186,   192, 

201,  202,  208 

Rodman,  Mr 114,  192 

Romanism  in  China 195,  196 

Rome 671-681 

Church  of,  in  China 139 

Rose,  Mr 214,  223 

Rosetta 575 

Rublee,  Mr 687 

Russell  &  Company 95,  231,  235 

Russia,  relations  with  China 138 

Russian  minister  at  Peking 136,  137 

Ryots 841 

Sacramento,  society  of 25 

Said  Pacha 484 

Saigon  city 264,  265 

River,  mouth  of. 263 


PAGE 

Saint  Thomas,  apostle 469 

Sakkara,  Pyramid  of. 518,  556 

Saladin 505 

Saliiia,  Augusta 544 

Salt  Lake  city 15 

San  Francisco 26-28 

Sao  Januario,  Viscount  de 454 

Sarnath,  Buddhist  ruins  at 379 

Sawa,  Japanese  Minister  of  Foreign  Af- 
fairs    568,  570,  572 

Science,  Hall  of,  at  Peking 139 

Schofield,  General 27 

Schung  Hao,  Chinese  ambassador 693 

Scudder,  missionary 844 

Secundra 388,  396 

Senter,  Mr 77 

Separation,  a  settlement  on  the  Rocky 

Mountains   12 

Septimus  Severus 544 

Seraglio 640 

Serampore 369 

Server  Pacha 636 

Setis 529,  540 

Seven  Sleepers,  the 618 

Seward,  Mr.,  declines  Japanese  invita- 
tion to  a  great  banquet 49 

his  interview  with  Japanese  for- 
eign minister 56-59 

gives  audience  at  U.  S.  consulate.     65 

audience  with  Mikado 69 

opinions  on  France 102,  103 

meets  an  acquaintance  on  the  Col- 
orado       106 

friendly  reception  at  Tung-Chow,  125 

entrance  into  Peking . .    129 

audience  of  imperial  cabinet.  .  .  .   140 

age 144 

views  on  the  Great  Wall  of  China, 

186,  187 
discussion  with  Mr.  Drew  on  Chi- 
nese affairs 214 

assault  on,  at  Han-Kow 222 

speech  at  Kong-Kong 255,  257 

half-way  round  the  world 319 

remarks  on  finances  of  India. .  .  .   365 

speech  at  Bombay 460 

remarks  on  India 465-469 

seventieth  birthday 533 

conversation  with  a  pacha  at  Cai- 
ro  568,569 

remarks  on  ancient  Egyptians,  576,  577 


IOT)EX. 


T29 


PAGE 

Seward,  Mr.,  firman  from  the  sultan. .   584 

impressions  of  Palestine. . . .  607,  614 

reception  at  Constantinople 633 

interview  with  the  Turliish  Sultan, 

652,  654 

remarks  on  Turkey 655-657 

reception  at  Vienna 665 

dinner  with  M.  Thiers 698-701 

in  Downing  Street 714 

return  home 719 

speech  at  Auburn 719,  720 

G.  F.,  consul 95,  112,  114,  192 

Olive  Risley 4 

Shah  Jehan 398,  400,  401 

Shan-Tung,  steamer 102,  113,  206,  207 

Shanghai 94,  98-100,  207 

Promontory 104,  106 

Sharon 578 

Sheba,  the  tombs  of  the  Tycoons 59 

Sheik,  Selim  Chisti 391,  392 

Shen-Tajen,  a  Chinese  poet 203 

Shepard,  Mr.,  U.  S.  consul  at  Yeddo..38,  69 

Sherman,  City  of. 12 

Shishak,  King 541 

Shoshones,  remnant  of 23 

Shumsh-oodeen-Altarash 408 

Sierra  Nevada,  ascent  and  descent  of,  24,  25 

Silas  E.  Burrows  &  Co 254 

Silver  Island 225 

Simmons,  Mrs 209 

Singapore 271-274 

steamer 315 

Siout 518 

Siva,  temple  of 363 

Sjiandjioer,  Java 295 

Slavery,  conservation  of 25 

Smith,  Archer  &  Co.,  China  merchants, 

23.5,  254 

Smith,  Dr 673 

Smithers,  Mr 621 

Smuggling  in  China , . .   234 

Smyrna 616 

Socotra , 469 

Somnath,  gates  of 389 

Soumalans  at  Aden 474 

Southern  cross,  the 564 

Sphinx,  the 500,  501 

Staempfli,  Mr 688 

Star  of  India,  order  of 361 

States,  new,  influence  of 11 

Steamer  America,  meeting  on  the 30 


Steamer  China 29 

j  Stewart,  U.  S.  consul  at  Hiogo 76 

Stone,  Mrs 493 

Story's  Cleopatra  and  Sibyl 680 

I  Strabo 546 

'  Suez .- 482 

Canal *. 483-487 

Sugar  of  Egypt 564 

Sultan,  Abdul  Aziz 635,  636 

,  Pacha 516,  563-565 

(  Turkish,  Mr.  Seward's  interview 

with 652-654 

Sumatra 275,  276 

Sunda,  Straits  of 278 

I  Surabaya 293,  295 

Susa 683 

Swinging  round  the  circle 357 

Swiss  President 687 

Switzerland,  politics  of 687-689 

a  miniature  America 687 

Syra 621,  622 

Synagogue,  American 602 

Taj-Mahal 398,  399 

Taku 108,  109 

Tankoeban  volcano 307 

;  Templars,  Knights 669,  670 

j  Temple  of  Agriculture 155 

of  Heaven 154 

of  the  Great  Bell,  China 175 

Sir  Richard 364,  403 

Tenno,  see  Mikado. 

'  Thames  River 713 

Thebes 534-540,  550,  563 

Theodosius,  edict  of 561 

Thiers,  Madame 698 

I  President 695,  698,  699 

I  Thile,  M 709 

Thomas,  Saint 345 

Thoutmosis  II.  and  III 548 

Thousand-mile  tree 14 

Tien-Tsien,  massacre  at 98,  101, 

110,  111,  115,  117,  132,  195,  196,  205 

Tigh,  Major 415-4^6 

Tilden,  Captain 123 

Timber  from  Corea 117 

Tinos 621 

Tokaido,  the  Japanese  highway 44 

Tombs,  Chinese,  Mr.  Seward's  remarks 

on 190 

Ming,  China 189 


T30 


IXDEX. 


Townsend  House,  Ogden 15 

Travaneore,  steamer 228 

Tuckerman,    Mr.,    U.    S.    minister    to 

Greece 6S0 

Tung-Chow 117,  121,  125,  205 

Tung-Lu 213 

Tung-Tajen,  a  Chinese  poet 203 

Turkey,  observations  on 655-667 

Turkish  women 644 

Tycoon,  the  Japanese 53,  81 

Tycoons,  tombs  of,  at  Sbeba 59 

Umballa 414-415 

United  States,  progress  of  trade 717 

Universalists,  Lincoln's  story  of 472 

Upton,  Mr 686 

Utah,  a  wonderful  success 21 

Talide,  Princess 492, 493,  568 

Van  Dyek,  Dr 605 

Van  Valkenburgh,  U.  S.  minister  to 

Japan 77.  138 

Varna 654 

Vasco  de  Gama 346 

Venice 669 

Venosta, Visconti 680 

Verplanck's  Point 719 

Versailles 694 

Vesuvius 681 

Via  Dolorosa 590 

Victor  Emmanuel 680,  683 

Vienna 6  64 

Vindhya  Mountains 438 

Visigapatam,  Maharajah  of ,   376 

Vlangally,  General 29,  132,  136,  203 

Wade,  Mr.  and  Mrs 137 

Wady,  a 489 

Wahsatch  Mountains 13,  14 

Walsh,  Mr 38,  70,  71 

a  ball  at  his  house 68 

Wang,  Captain 113,  114 

Wan-Siang 142,  143,  167-169,  170 

Warden,  Mr 102,  132,  227 

Mrs 98,  101 

Washburne,  Mr 693,  706 

Weber  Canon 14 

River 14 

Webster  and  Adams,  anecdote  of..  . . .   125 


PAGE 

Welti,  Mr 687 

Wessner,  Miss 464 

Westropp,  Sir  M.  R 460 

Whampoa 234 

Wheaton,  Chinese  ti'anslation  of. 167 

Wheeler,  Lieutenant 407 

Williams,  Dr 132,  168 

Wilson,  Captain 593 

Winslow,  Admiral,  hero  of  the  Kear- 

sarge 27 

Women,  Chinese,  abasement  of. 2.28 

Women,  Turkish 644 

Wood,  Mr 620 

Woolsey,  Dr.,  daughters  of 606 

Woosung 94,  102,  208 

Wu-Chang 217-219,  221 

Wurtz,  Mr 670 

Wyoming,  Territory  of. 11 

Xavier,  St.  Francis 87,  455,  456 

Yang-Fang,  a  Chinese  pawnbroker.. . .   147 

smoking-room 151 

wife 148 

Yang-tse 225 

Yang-tse-kiang  River 209-21 2 

Yang-tse-kiang,  mouth  of. 102,  103 

Yeddo 77 

visit  to 49 

how  built 59 

artisans,    artists,    and   manufac- 
turers       66 

bay  of,  storm  in 50,  51 

Yellow  Sea 94,  102,  103 

Yokohama,  arrival  at 37 

—  bay  of. 37 

Young,  Brigham 17-20,  22 

Colonel.  .• 404,  413 

Mr 271,  274 

Youssef  and  his  donkey 553 

Yuen-Min-Yuen,  China 176-179 

Yung-Lo,  Chinese  emperor.     175, 190,  191 
Yussef  Efifendi 590 

Zachariah,  tomb  of 597 

Zenana  mission 370,  371 

Zemindars 341 

Zuaking 223 


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International  Scientific  Series. 


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Prof  T.  H.  Huxley,  LL.  D.,  F.  R.  S.,  Bodily  Mo- 
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Sir  John  Lubbock,  Bart.,  F.  R.  S.,  The  Antiquity 
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Prof.  Rudolph  Virchow  (of  the  University  of  Ber- 
lin), Morbid  Physiological  Action. 

Prof.  Alexander  Bain,  LL.  D.,  Relations  of  Mind 

and  Body, 
Prof.   Balfour   Stewart,  LL.  D.,  F.  R.  S.,   Tlie 

Conscri'ation  of  Energy. 
Dr.  H.  Charlton  Bastian,  M.D.,  F.  R.  S.,  The 

Brain  as  an  Organ  of  Mind. 

Herbert  Spencer,  Esq.,  The  Study  of  Sociology. 

Prof  William  Odling,  F.  R.  S.,  The  New  Chem- 
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Prof.  W.  Thiselton  Dyer,  B.  A.,  B.  Sc,  Form 
and  Habit  in  Flowering  Plants. 

Dr.  Edward  Smith,  F.  R.  S.,  Food  and  Diets. 

Prof.  W.  KiNGDON  Clifford,  M.  A.,  Tiie  First 
Principles  of  the  Exact  Sciences  explained  to 
the  Non-Mathejnatical. 

Mr.  J.  N.  Lockyer,  F.  R.  S.,  Spectrum  Analysis. 
W.  Lauder  Lindsay,  M.  D.,  F.  R.  S.  E  ,  Mind  in 
the  Lotver  Animals. 

B.  G.  Bell  Pettigrew,  M.  D.,  The  Locomotion 
of  A  nimals,  as  exemplified  in  IValking,  Swim- 
ming, and  Flying. 

Prof  James  D.  Dana,  M.  A.,  LL.  D.,  On  Cephali- 
zation  ;  or.  Head  Domination  in  its  relation 
to  Structure,  Grade,  and  Development. 

Prof.  S.  W.  Johnson,  M.  A.,  On  t!ie  Nutrition  of 
Plants.  -^ 


Prof.  Austin  Flint,  Jr.,  M.  D.,  The  Ner^ious  Sys- 
tem and  its  relation  to  the  Bodily  Functions. 

Prof.  W.  D.  Whitney,  Modern  Linguistic  Science. 

Prof.  A.  C.  Ramsay,  LL.  D.,  F.  R.  S.,  Earth 
Sculpture. 

Dr.  Henry  Maudsley,  Responsibility  in  Disease. 
Prof.   Michael  Foster,  M.  D.,  Protoplasm  attd 
the  Cell  Theory. 

Rev.   M.  J.   Berkeley,  M.  A.,  F.  L.  S.,  Fungi; 

their  Nature,  Influences,  and  Uses. 
Prof.  Claude  Bernard  (of  the  College  of  France), 

Pliysical   and   Metaphysical   Phenomena    of 

Life. 

Prof.  A.  Quetelet  (of  the  Brussels  Academy  of 
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Prof.  A.  DE  QuATREFAGES,  The  Negro  Races. 

Prof.  Lacaze-Duthiers,  Zoology  since  Cuvier. 

Prof.  C.  A.  Young,  Ph.  D.  (of  i  artmouth  College), 
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Prof.  Bernstein  (University  of  Halle),  The  Physi- 
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Prof.  Herman  (University  of  Zurich),  On  Respira- 
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Prof.  Leuckard  (University  of  Leipsic),  Outlines 
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Prof.  Rees  (University  of  Erlangen),  On  Parasitic 
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Prof.  VoGEL  (Polytechnic  Academy,  Berlin),  The 

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Prof.  Schmidt  (University  of  Strasbourg),  TIieTJie- 

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will  exist  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  so  truly  patriotic  and 
American  throughout,  they  should  find  a  place  in  every  Amer- 
ican's LIBRARY."— ZP^wzV/  Webster. 


D.  Appleton  &  Co.   are  now  publishing  an   entirely   New   Illustrated 
Edition  of 

FENIMOEE  COOPER'S  NOVELS, 

In  a  form  designed  for  popular  circulation.     Each  volume  is  accompanied 

with  numerous  New  Designs  by 

F_    O.    O-    ID.AwK.I.E^S', 

Engraved  in  a  very  superior  manner.       The  volumes  are  printed  from  new 

stereotype  plates,  in-octavo  form. 

Price,  in  paper  covers,  75  cents  each  ;  in  cloth,  $1.25. 

NOW  ready: 

I.  The  Last  of  the  Mohieans. 
II.  The  Deerslayer.  V.  The  Prairie. 

III.  The  Pathfinder.  VI.  The  Spy. 

IV.  The  Pioneers.  VII.  The  Pilot. 

In  rapid  preparation,  others  of  the  Series. 
Either  of  the  above  mailed,  post-paid,  to  any  address,  on  receipt  of  price. 


THE  "LEATHER-STOCKING"  TALES, 

Consisting  of  the  five  volumes  first  enumerated  above,  bound  in  one  large, 
handsome  volume.      Cloth,  gilt  back  and  side.      Price,  $4.00. 

D.  APPLETON  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

549  &  551  Broadway,  New  York. 


RARE  BOOK 
COLLECTION 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

AT 

CHAPEL  HILL 

Travel 

G440 

.S52 


'■^m%- 


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